This paper discusses economic sanctions in U.S. foreign policy. US sanctions policy needs reform. Too often our laudable goals are ill-served by our unilateral attempts to coerce changes in policies or practices of foreign governments; too often the economic impact of our sanctions is offset by alternative suppliers of goods and capital whose governments agree with our goals but not the tactics to achieve them; and too often we do not plan for the reconstruction of sanctions-weakened economies in the infrequent cases when our sanctions succeed or when they are abandoned.
