WASHINGTON: Joe Biden will not shy away from using President Donald Trump’s weapon of choice - sanctions - as he seeks to reshape America’s foreign policy, according to people familiar with his thinking.
But when Biden takes office on Jan. 20, he is expected to quickly begin recalibrating Trump’s blunt-force approach while taking time to deliberate before making any major changes with top sanctions targets like Iran and China, the sources said.
His challenge will be to sort out which sanctions to keep, which to undo and which to expand. This will come after four years in which Trump has imposed punitive economic measures at a record pace – often unilaterally - but has failed to bend US rivals to his will.
The revised strategy will be crafted with help from a broad review of sanctions programs that will begin soon after Biden’s inauguration, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
But even before this assessment is complete, Biden is expected to make clear that sanctions will remain a central instrument of US power - although it will no longer be deployed with the “America First” bravado that has driven Trump’s foreign policy.
“It won’t be a pullback or a push forward,” said one person close to Biden’s transition team. “It will be a readjustment in the use of the sanctions tool.”
Among the early possibilities, according to two sources, could be lifting sanctions Trump imposed in September on officials of the International Criminal Court over its investigation into whether the US military committed war crimes in Afghanistan, a move denounced by European allies.
Biden could also match British and European Union sanctions against Russians over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, said one person familiar with the matter. Moscow has denied any involvement.
Adding to Biden’s challenges, Trump has kept up a drum beat of sanctions in the chaotic, waning days of his administration. He has imposed measures that could make it harder for his successor to return to a landmark nuclear deal with Iran and to quickly establish a working relationship with China after Communist Party officials were targeted.
Since taking office, Trump has employed sanctions as his go-to response to international problems ranging from Iran’s military activities to North Korea’s nuclear arsenal to Venezuela’s political crisis.
The Trump administration has issued around 3,800 new sanctions “designations” compared with 2,350 in President Barack Obama’s second term, while approving far fewer delistings, the means by which Washington rewards those who change behavior, according to figures compiled by the Center for a New American Security think tank. At the same time, his administration has pioneered the imposition of US visa bans, hitting more than 200 foreign officials with travel sanctions rarely used before Trump, and has sharply escalated the use of so-called secondary sanctions that have punished friends as well as foes.
While Biden is expected to continue robust use of such coercive measures, there will be changes, including more deliberative decision-making and closer coordination with allies, the sources said.
“Sanctions are not a silver bullet,” said Hagar Hajjar Chemali, who served as a sanctions officer under Obama. “They need to be deployed as part of a broader strategy, and this is what has often been lacking with the Trump administration.”Trump officials insist that this flexing of US economic muscle has inflicted serious damage to some of America’s foes that could provide leverage for Biden.
