February 05, 2019
Here’s How Trump Can Make Better Use of Corporate Sanctions
The Trump administration’s decision, which went into force on Jan. 27, to lift sanctions on several companies owned by the influential Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, has proven controversial. Congress nearly blocked the action—more than 80 percent of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 57 Senators supported a resolution to overturn the plan. Only the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster threshold kept the resolution from landing on President Donald Trump’s desk.
The controversy centered on the terms of the deal. Deripaska, a longtime associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will remain sanctioned personally. But Deripaska’s major holdings, including Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminum companies, were removed from U.S. sanctions lists after the oligarch agreed to cut his ownership stake in them to 45 percent and the companies agreed to new, independent oversight to ensure that Deripaska cannot fully control them. Controversy only increased after the press got hold of the deal’s , which showed that Deripaska’s close associates and foundation kept approximately another 12 percent of the company and that Deripaska himself got hundreds of millions of dollars in debt relief for the shares he divested.
U.S. officials in the executive branch and Congress should draw at least three major lessons from the fight over lifting sanctions on Deripaska’s companies.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
Could There Be a Way to Make Economic Sanctions More Mission Oriented?
Podcast
One of the main tools foreign policy leaders have to exert pressure on other governments is through the use of economic tools. Sanctions, export controls, investment restricti...
By Lt Col Mary Hossier
-
Boosting Economic Security Collaboration Among G7 Economies and like-Minded Allies
Commentary
Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow and director of the CNAS energy, economics, and security program, and Geoff Gertz, senior fellow, participated in the T7, the official engagemen...
By Emily Kilcrease & Geoffrey Gertz
-
Ducking Climate Science Is a Danger to the U.S. Military. Congress Must Help.
Commentary
This article was originally published in Breaking Defense. The Trump Administration’s recent decision to revoke the EPA “endangerment finding” is emblematic of a trend in Amer...
By Will Rogers
-
CNAS Insights | Trump's Plan B for Tariffs
Commentary
The administration is already pivoting to a new tariff architecture that will mostly, though not entirely, recreate his previous tariffs....
By Geoffrey Gertz
