The Trump White House issued about 3,800 sanctions since 2017, about 40 percent more than tObama ordered in his second term. Critics of the sanctions policy have long argued that they don't work, causing the leaderships of affected nations to entrench their opposition to the US.
President-elect Joe Biden will recalibrate America's sanctions policy, increasing pressure on some countries while easing off others, Reuters has reported, citing multiple sources said to be “familiar with his thinking.”
“It won't be a pullback or a push forward. It will be a readjustment in the use of the sanctions tool,” one source thought to be close to the transition team said.
Among the entities reportedly set to receive relief are officials from the International Criminal Court, whom the Trump White House sanctioned in September over an investigation into possible US war crimes in Afghanistan.
Russia, meanwhile, is expected to be hit with more have sanctions, with Biden likely to follow in the UK and EU's footsteps following the Navalny case. Alleged Russian election meddling, cyberattacks, and the summer's (debunked) reports about Russian cash bounties on US soldiers' lives in Afghanistan are also potential reasons Moscow can expert further embargoes.
Biden is expected to widen sanctions against China as well, one person close to the transition team said, with new restrictions to target Beijing over Hong Kong, the…