Economic Sanctions to Achieve U.S. Foreign Policy Goals: Discussion and Guide to Current Law

Publication Date: June 1998

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

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Abstract:

On June 4, 1998, Senator Richard Lugar circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter, stating it was his intention at the earliest opportunity to offer an amendment on the floor based on S. 1413, the "Enhancement of Trade, Security, and Human Rights through Sanctions Reform Act." S. 1413 — its House counterpart is H.R. 2708, introduced by Representative Hamilton and others — seeks to clarify the use of unilateral sanctions in U.S. foreign policy imposed at the initiative of either the Administration or Congress. S. 1413/H.R. 2708 would revise procedures both branches would follow before enacting or imposing sanctions, and would require extensive reporting as to the expected costs and benefits of imposing sanctions. The measures were considered unlikely to be enacted in this Congress as freestanding bills. Senator Lugar's announcement, however, increases the odds of enactment. Press reports suggest that the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (S. 2057), currently under Senate consideration, is the most likely legislative vehicle for such an amendment.

The 105th Congress, otherwise, currently has under consideration new sanctions legislation specifically relating to religious persecution, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms sales and transfers, export controls, terrorism, international narcotics control, travel restrictions, environment, workers rights (including issues of prison or forced labor and child labor), humanitarian donations of food and medicine, war crimes, torture, and human rights. Other, more routine, legislative initiatives (annual appropriations bills, for example) have become the means to target individual countries for behavior of which the United States disapproves. Economic sanctions typically include measures such as trade embargoes; restrictions on particular exports or imports; denial of foreign assistance, loans, and investments; or control of foreign assets and economic transactions that involve U.S. citizens or businesses.

Some suggest that there is a post-Cold War trend toward sanctions becoming the method of first resort in foreign policy. A recent National Association of Manufacturers report (March 1997) states that 61 U.S. laws and executive orders have been enacted in the last four years alone--targeting 35 countries--for foreign policy purposes. A frequently cited report issued by the Institute for International Economics (April 1997) concludes that U.S. unilateral sanctions may have cost U.S. businesses some $15-19 billion in 1995 alone. Others contend that sanctions, unilateral or otherwise, are a peacetime means to improving international behavior in important areas such as human rights or weapons proliferation, and should not be avoided solely for trade concerns.

This report provides background on foreign policy sanctions and the events that might necessitate their use, criteria to consider when determining if sanctions are appropriate, approaches that might be effective, and aspects of the use of sanctions that are sometimes overlooked or not considered fully.