U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Never Go Away — They Just Evolve
When it comes to sanctions, the Cold War never really ended. Even as President Obama lifted Soviet-era sanctions, he imposed new ones. President Trump could soon find a sanctions bill on his desk.
When it comes to U.S. sanctions against Moscow, the Cold War has never really ended.
President Gerald Ford signed off on trade restrictions against the Soviet Union and other communist countries in a 1974 measure known as Jackson-Vanik, for its congressional sponsors.
The message to Moscow: if you deny basic human rights — in this case, the right of certain people, especially Jews, to emigrate from the Soviet Union — you can't conduct normal business with the United States.
Nearly four decades passed before President Obama finally lifted those restrictions and granted Russia full trade ties in a Yet that very same law, known as the , also imposed new sanctions that bar specific Russian human rights violaters from entering the U.S.
