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Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country (or group of countries) on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas.

Economic sanctions are frequently retaliatory in nature. For example, in 2002 the United States placed import tariffs on steel in an effort to protect its industry from more efficient foreign producers, such as China and Russia. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled that these tariffs were illegal. The European Union threatened retaliatory tariffs on a range of US goods, forcing the US government to remove the steel tariffs in early 2004. Economic sanctions frequently result in trade wars. The World Trade Organization is the world governing body for trade disputes.

Economic sanctions are not always imposed because of economic circumstances. For example, on May 13th 1998, the United States and Japan imposed economic sanctions on India, following its second round of nuclear tests. The United States has imposed economic sanctions on Iran for years, stating Iran's "state sponsor of terrorism" as its main reason.

The United Nations imposed stringent economic sanctions upon Iraq after the first Gulf War, and these were maintained partly as an attempt to make the Iraqi government co-operate with the UN weapons inspectors' monitoring of Iraq's weapons and weapons programs. These sanctions were unusually stringent in that very little in the way of trade goods were allowed into or out of Iraq during the sanction period (further information about these sanctions and their effects can be found at www.casi.org.uk and at [1]). The sanctions were not lifted until May 2003, after the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was overthrown.

There is a United Nations sanctions regime imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in 1999 against all Al-Qaida and Taliban associated individuals which has undergone years of modification by a dozen UN Security Council Resolutions. The cornerstone of the regime is a consolidated list of persons maintained by the Security Council. All nations are obliged to freeze bank accounts and other financial instruments controlled by, or used for the benefit of, anyone on the list.

• International sanctions
  • Trade sanctions
  • Trade war
  • Ethical Aspects of Sanctions in International Law by Hans Köchler (1994)
• Protectionism
• Sanctions against Iran
• United States embargoes

• Four Decades of Failure: The U.S. Embargo against Cuba
• Steel Trap: How Subsidies and Protectionism Weaken the U.S. Steel Industry
• The European Union’s sanctions related to Human rights: the case of Burma/Myanmar.
• U.S. Sanctions Against Burma: A Failure on All Fronts