Economic Sanctions

Economic sanctions are penalties inflicted by one country or group of countries on another, including embargoes, tariffs, trade barriers, and quotas on imports or exports. Economic sanctions may be protectionist in nature (as when the U.S. placed tariffs on imported steel in an effort to protect U.S. steel producers) or they may be primarily political, as when in 1998 the U.S. and Japan imposed economic sanctions on India in response to nuclear testing on that country’s part. The United Nations may impose economic sanctions in response to non-compliance with international law and U.N. orders. The World Trade Organization may also become involved when countries inflict economic sanctions on one another, since the WTO has the authority to regulate trade disputes