Sulaiman Damilola Salako

WHY THE UNITED STATES CAN SANCTION OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD Currently, over 10 countries are under sanctions by the US, any other country deemed deserving of a sanction may well be added to the list at any time. Economic and trade sanctions are one of the several ways by which the US punishes and compel other countries to do its bidding. A sanction is a restriction or prohibition placed on all kinds of financial and non-financial dealings by a more economically dominant economy on the less dominant one. It usually aims at making the later do its bidding or agree to its terms. More specifically, a sanction involves leveraging on political and economic power to force a (sanctioned) state/country to conform to certain rules or change a course of action. The most recent sanction by the USA was imposed on a Chinese entity on account of being used by China’s rulers and for cyber-theft of sensitive military and trade information. This sanction was in the form of trade restriction where United States companies were prohibited from having any dealing with Chinese telecommunication giant, Huawei. Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Cuba and Venezuela are also some of the countries to have been hit and currently under sanctions by the United States. This then brings the question of “which country can sanction which?”, and what determines whether a country can sanction another. Among other determinants, the importance of economic power, political power, military power and technological leadership greatly determine which country can impose sanctions on the other. United Nations, European Union, African Union and individual countries reserve the power to impose sanctions when deemed necessary, and the USA is one such country which constantly does so. Economic power, which is also known as market power, is the ability of a country to tilt market outcomes in its favour. Measures of the economic power range from the size of an economy (measured by GDP), the volume of goods traded with trade partners, and the population of its workforce. The United States currently boasts of the highest nominal gross domestic product (Nominal GDP) globally, at approximately $20.49 trillion with China, the closest counterpart at a distant $13.4 trillion. Also, the US as the largest importer in the world underlines the fact that it purchases a sizeable amount of goods and services from other countries of the world. With trading partners such as China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and India (equally economic heavyweights), a trade sanction will inflict significant damage on the economy of the country so sanctioned. Another key dimension to the United States’ dominant economic power is its currency, the dollar. This is because international transactions are denominated in dollars due to its stability and strength, both of which are a result of a strong performing economy and effective policy. The international dominance of the currency has earned the dollars the title “the vehicular currency”. This country therefore has the upper hand if it were to undertake economic warfare against a country. Perhaps the most important determinant of how “acceptable” and effective a sanction is, is the imposing country’s political might. Given its economic might, it is not surprising that the United States holds the highest stake in the United Nations, both in terms of key personnel and funding. It is usually said that the US’ dominance of the United Nations is the major reason why the union has failed to recognize China as an emerging world power. This, therefore, emboldens the United States to impose sanctions at will and influence the United Nations to impose different forms of sanctions on one or more countries. Although according to the World Economic Forum, Switzerland ranks highest as the country with the most highly skilled labour force, the United States ranks equally very high at 5th for a country with 164.6million workers. A highly skilled and productive workforce gives a country a form of leverage in the global market and augments its standing among other countries of the world. A sanction may, therefore, result in a country withdrawing its ex-pats from the country upon which the sanction is imposed, crippling key economic activities and projects. Technological leadership also greatly determines the direction of a sanction, it is in fact why the United States sanction on Huawei has been effective as it (Huawei) depends heavily on chips manufactured in the US for its products. Therefore, a more technologically advanced country has more power to impose sanctions on the less technological developed. The final factor we will be looking at is military might – the size of the military, level of military technology and level of military human power. Sanctions are a point between diplomacy and military warfare, a country with less military power may not be too enthusiastic about imposing sanctions on a country with superior military power. The position of the United States’ military as one the best in the world hence gives it leverage and advantage in international negotiations.