03 October 1997
US Enemies Everywhere
EditorialUS enemies everywhere
The Cold War is over and the biggest menace to the United States and the free world - Communism - is dying. But the world is full of America's enemies, and, if Congress gets its way, there will be plenty more. If this spiral continues and the administration doesn't put a stop to it, the United States will find itself without a friend in the world before the decade is out.
Congress mass-produces enemies by passing legislation imposing trade sanctions on anyone not meeting the criteria du jour. Last year, the targets were countries or companies dealing with Cuba - the Helms-Burton Act - or with Iran and Libya - the D'Amato law. The two laws weren't aimed at any specific nations, but they hit America's best friends particularly hard.
Now Congress is aiming its sanctions howitzer at targets on practically every continent. Its ammunition is the Religious Persecution Act. If it passes - and it may, particularly if carried over to the election year - economic sanctions would be imposed on Germany for outlawing Scientology, Russia for curbing minority religions, Indonesia for burning Christian churches or Singapore for intolerance of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Legislators aren't even asking what the sanctions are supposed to accomplish. Certainly, some hope that by being tough, Washington can force other countries to change their policies. Perhaps even turn a Moslem Indonesia into a Christian society or make Chinese Communists tolerant of religion.
But, as study after study indicates, expectations that behavior will change are unrealistic. Sanctions don't do anything of the kind. In virtually all cases, the ""target'' country continues its objectionable practices, and merely substitutes other countries' suppliers for their unreliable U.S. counterparts. It is common wisdom among economists that unilateral sanctions don't work.
Hence, Congress came up with the secondary boycott - represented by the Helms-Burton and D'Amato laws - aimed at forcing other countries to go along with U.S. sanctions. The anti-Cuba statute, for example, does it by punishing any company, U.S. or foreign, ""trafficking'' in property confiscated by Fidel Castro.
The U.S. trade embargo has not unseated Castro for 35 years, but Helms- Burton's impact on America's best customers in Canada and Western Europe was instant. So angry were these countries that they took the United States to the World Trade Organization for violation of international rules.
While that case is in abeyance pending a settlement, a new trans-Atlantic crisis is around the corner. French oil company Total just signed a $2 billion natural gas deal with Iran that, along with its Russian and Malaysian partners, faces U.S. reprisals under the Iran sanctions law. France, the European Union and Russia have already told Washington they accept extraterritorial application of U.S. laws.
Yet, responding to U.S. diplomatic pressure, the EU has adopted a number of measures to isolate Iran, including the suspension of its "critical dialogue" with Tehran, the recall of ambassadors and strict export controls on dual-use technology.
Clearly, the allies are susceptible to U.S. diplomatic influence and will, when consulted, go even further in accommodating the United States. But they dig in their heels when threatened with sanctions.
President Clinton should waive sanctions against Total, perhaps in exchange for stiffer anti-Iran measures by the EU. The Europeans find the sanctions abhorrent, but they will cooperate to avoid hostilities with Washington.
At the same time, Mr. Clinton must make it clear to Congress that he will sign no laws that impose unilateral U.S. trade sanctions. Vetoing the Religious Persecution Act, if it reaches him, is a good start.
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