United States government sanctions


United States government sanctions are financial and trade restrictions imposed against individuals, entities, and jurisdictions whose actions contradict U.S. foreign policy or national security goals. Financial sanctions are primarily administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, while export controls are primarily administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.
Restrictions against sanctioned targets vary in severity depending on the justification behind the sanction, and the legal authorities behind the sanctions action. Comprehensive sanctions are currently in place targeting Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and certain conflict regions of Ukraine, which heavily restrict nearly all trade and financial transactions between U.S. persons and those regions. Targeted sanctions specifically target certain individuals or entities that engage in activities that are contrary to U.S. foreign policy or national security goals, rather than an entire country. The U.S. also implements "secondary sanctions", which risk a sanctions designation against a non-U.S. person who transacts with sanctioned parties in violation of U.S. sanctions law, even if no U.S.-jurisdictional nexus existed for the transaction.
According to Manu Karuka, an American studies academician at Columbia University, the United States has imposed two-thirds of the world's sanctions between the 1990s and circa 2023. In 2024, the Washington Post said that the United States imposed "three times as many sanctions as any other country or international body, targeting a third of all nations with some kind of financial penalty on people, properties or organizations".

History

After the failure of the Embargo Act of 1807, the federal government of the United States took little interest in imposing embargoes and economic sanctions against foreign countries until the 20th century. United States trade policy was entirely a matter of economic policy. After World War I, interest revived. President Woodrow Wilson promoted such sanctions as a method for the League of Nations to enforce peace. However, he failed to bring the United States into the League and the US did not join the 1935 League sanctions against Italy.
According to communications studies academic and political scientist Immanuel Ness, trends in whether the United States has unilaterally or multilaterally imposed sanctions have changed over time. During the Cold War, the United States led unilateral sanctions against Cuba, China, and North Korea. Following the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, United States sanctions became increasingly multilateral. During the 1990s, the United States imposed sanctions against countries it viewed as rogue states in conjunction with multilateral institutions such as the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. Davis and Ness state that, in the 2000s, and with increasing frequency in the 2010s, the United States acted less multilaterally as it imposed sanctions against perceived geopolitical competitors or countries that, according to Davis and Ness, were the site of "proxy conflicts".
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and some members of the United States Congress asked the United States to suspend its sanctions regimes as way to help alleviate the pandemic's impact on the people of sanctioned countries. Members of Congress who argued for the suspension of sanctions included Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar.
According to Tim Beal, the United States applies sanctions more frequently than any other country or nation, and does so by a wide-margin. According to American Studies academic, the United States has imposed two-thirds of the world's sanctions since the 1990s.
According to a 2024 analysis by The Washington Post, 60% of low-income countries were under some form of U.S. financial sanction. The analysis also concluded that the U.S. imposes three times as many sanctions as any other country or international body.

Types of sanctions imposed by the United States

  • bans on arms-related exports,
  • controls over dual-use technology exports,
  • restrictions on economic assistance
  • financial restrictions such as:
  • * authority to prohibit U.S. citizens from engaging in financial transactions with the individuals, entities, or governments on the list, except by license from the U.S. government
  • * requiring the United States to oppose loans by the World Bank and other international financial institutions,
  • * diplomatic immunity waived, to allow families of terrorism victims to file for civil damages in U.S. courts,
  • * tax credits for companies and individuals denied, for income earned in listed countries,
  • * duty-free goods exemption suspended for imports from those countries, and
  • * prohibition of U.S. Defense Department contracts above $100,000 with companies controlled by countries on the list.
  • visa restrictions that prevent certain individuals from entering the U.S.

    Targeted parties

The U.S. does not maintain a specific list of countries that U.S. persons cannot do business with because its sanctions program varies in scope depending on the sanctions program. Although some sanctions programs are broad and target entire jurisdictions, most are "targeted" sanctions and focus on specific entities, individuals, or economic sectors. Depending on the nature of the restriction, U.S. sanctions are announced and implemented by different executive departments, typically the Treasury Department or the Commerce Department, and sometimes in conjunction with the State, Defense, or Energy departments.

Comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions

Comprehensively sanctioned jurisdictions are subject to the most restrictive sanctions measures. Most transactions between a U.S. person and any person or entity "ordinarily resident" in a comprehensively sanctioned jurisdiction is restricted. In addition to the general sanctions listed below, transactions involving entities or individuals from these countries on OFAC's SDN List or BIS' Entity List are also restricted.
Jurisdiction/RegionSummary of certain restrictions
CubaSee also|United States embargo against Cuba

Targeted sanctions

In jurisdictions not subject to comprehensive sanctions measures, only transactions related to specific parties are prohibited. Jurisdictions that face targeted sanctions may continue to do business with the United States, with restrictions only placed on specific categories of individuals or entities, and anyone worldwide who materially supports or provides financial, logistical, or technological support for them.
According to OFAC, there are approximately 12,000 names on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List list, which is the most restrictive category of targeted U.S. sanctions, targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, and international criminals by blocking their U.S. assets and restricting U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with them.
The following jurisdictions have been designated a specific sanctions program used by OFAC to determine SDN designations targeting individuals or entities engaging in sanctionable activities related to the targeted sanctions restrictions placed on that jurisdiction:
Jurisdiction/RegionSummary of certain restrictions
Belarus

Human rights abuses/corruption

Building off the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, named after Sergei Magnitsky who died in Russian custody after uncovering corruption, the U.S. can enact sanctions against any individual or entity worldwide who it says engages in severe human rights abuses and corruption that degrade the rule of law, perpetuate violent conflicts, and facilitate the activities of dangerous persons. The following list include some jurisdictions that are frequently targeted by U.S. sanctions related to human rights abuses but are not specifically targeted under a country-specific sanctions program:
Jurisdiction/RegionSummary of targeted individuals/entities
Afghanistan

Terrorism

Some of the jurisdictions whose resident individuals or entities are frequently targeted for sanctions under counter-terrorism authorities include:
Jurisdiction/RegionSummary of targeted individuals/entities
Gaza

Drug trafficking/transnational criminal organizations

Some of the jurisdictions whose resident individuals or entities are frequently targeted for sanctions under anti-drug trafficking or transnational criminal organizations-related authorities include:
Jurisdiction/RegionSummary of targeted individuals/entities
Italy

Jurisdictions subject to military/arms related export controls

Department of State Arms Embargo

The U.S. government maintains a policy of denial for any exports of defense articles or defense services to the following countries:

Department of Commerce Military End Use/User Rule

The U.S. government also enforces stricter restrictions on a more expansive definition of defense items, including the export of any U.S.-origin item that "supports or contributes" to the operation, installation, maintenance, repair, overhaul, refurbishing, development, or production of military items to specified countries. The same countries are also subject to additional license requirements in place for certain exports to the targeted countries' "military end users", defined as their national armed services, national police, national intelligence services, and anyone whose activities "support or contribute to military end uses."