The US is concerned about the overuse of 'economic warfare' tools.
The Washington Post suggests that the US administration is concerned about the overuse of sanctions, but cannot stop and continues to impose them.
According to RIA Novosti, the Washington Post, in an analysis published on July 25, stated that approximately one-third of the world's countries are subject to some degree of US sanctions. Washington's excessive use of "economic warfare" is causing concern among governments, but its use continues to increase at a record rate.
“The U.S. has subjected one-third of the world’s countries to financial pressure on individuals or organizations, imposing sanctions three times more than any other country or international organization. These have become an almost instinctive weapon of economic warfare, and their overuse has been acknowledged at the highest levels of government,” the Washington Post reported.
The Washington Post argues that the use of sanctions has increased throughout the last four presidential terms: a trend that began under President George W. Bush and intensified under Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
The article also points out that sanctions have become “a multi-billion dollar industry of lobbyists and influential companies enriching former U.S. officials.”
Furthermore, sanctions, or even the threat of sanctions, are a potentially effective tool of pressure, contributing to the fact that "sanctioned countries may turn to the black market, thereby bolstering the actions of criminal groups." And America's adversaries are increasing cooperation to circumvent the imposition of Washington's sanctions.
The Washington Post also noted that the penalties imposed through denial of access to the dollar have led to a desire to abandon it entirely.
The Washington Post argues that two years of sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine have damaged Russia's economic prospects and increased military production costs in the long term, but they have also created a submarine fleet of oil tankers, selling oil outside of international regulations and bringing the Kremlin and Beijing closer together.
According to the Washington Post, concerns about the effectiveness of overuse of sanctions and the risk of them becoming ineffective have been acknowledged by many in the U.S. government, and some have expressed this directly to President Biden.
"However, while the overall volume appears to be increasing, each individual measure seems reasonable, and stopping the trend of imposing sanctions is becoming more difficult," the Washington Post noted.
At the same time, the newspaper reported that in 2024, the US was reimposing sanctions at a record pace, and now more than 60% of low-income countries are facing some degree of financial pressure.
