We commend the Tribune for its courageous May 22 editorial endorsing the Clinton administration’s waiver of certain trade sanctions against Iran, Libya and Cuba and for calling on Congress to repeal them altogether.
Free trade is under attack from demagogues on both the political left and right. Protectionists understand that using trade sanctions against unpopular countries serves to popularize and legitimize government interference in the international market, even though such interference is often a “lose-lose” proposition for consumers and producers of all the countries involved.
It is possible that unilateral trade sanctions have been used effectively in the past to persuade nations to respect human rights; such was the case with South Africa and the peaceful transition to interracial democratic rule. But history shows that sanctions only rarely achieve their announced objectives and are often used to reward or punish political allies or foes without fairness and without respect for international law or the legitimate interest of U.S. producers and consumers.
Free trade has a better record of fostering social, political and economic change than does the use of trade sanctions. It was free trade, not sanctions, that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.
One must use prudence and exhaust all other possibilities before restoring to economic sanctions. The criteria used to impose sanctions must weigh the enormous social costs that result when governments step between willing buyers and willing sellers against the small likelihood that a nation’s political leaders (particularly in despotic countries) will be compelled to change their conduct. Such criteria should then be applied in all situations rather than have to compete with narrow political considerations.
Let us hope during the period during which the waiver applies that some careful thought will be given to this subject, with results that are reflected in future decisions to impose sanctions.
