Former United States President Donald Trump’s administration unleashed a torrent of economic sanctions on individuals and entities during his single term in the Oval Office. The punitive measures were aimed at squeezing the US’s foes – most notably Iran, Venezuela and China – to advance Trump’s foreign policy agenda.
But sanctions often failed to achieve their objectives, and critics charge that the acceleration of sanctions on some countries near the end of Trump’s term was designed to box in newly sworn-in President Joe Biden on key foreign policy matters.
The Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear pact with world powers in 2018 and its subsequent “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions targeting Iran’s economy failed to coerce Tehran back to the negotiating table. The relentless barrage of blacklistings backfired in some respects because Iran is once again enriching uranium.