Constitutional and foreign policy aspects of the U.S. economic sanctions

Abstract

Introduction . History of economic sanctions goes back to the old times, when Athens blocked trade for those entities, whose way of conduct was not acceptable to them. The authors prove, that further active application of economic sanctions, which developed in the 20th century, is more related to the activity of certain states, in particular the USA. The sanction practice was encouraged by the approach of the American presidents, for example, manifested in the well-known speech by President Woodrow Wilson where he named economic sanctions as silent, but deadly method of fight. An Important role in the economic relations between the USSR and later - Russia and the USA was played the Jackson-Vanik amendment which imposed serious trade relation limitations that existed until it was repealed in 2012. However, in 2014 the history of the trade sanctions pressure over Russia from the USA got a new impetus. The authors review several presidential Executive Orders, which imposed economic sanctions against Russia. A new U.S. Law “Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act" (CAATSA), adopted in 2017 is scrutinized by the authors as well. Materials and methods . The methodological basis of the research includes general scientific and special methods of cognition in the sphere of constitutional law, including method of system structural analysis, comparative legal method, formal logical method, historical and legal methods. Results. The authors stress the high importance of the extraterritorial legal force of the U.S. economic sanctions acts, which allows application thereof beyond territory of the USA. The authors make a conclusion that modern U.S. sanctions against Russia without any doubt should be considered as an element of pressure with the purpose of intervening into Russia's internal and external policy. Discussions and conclusion . The use of economic sanctions as a tool of coercion against another state is grounded; the negative impact of economic sanctions on the state that imposes them is evidenced, the proposition that the extraterritoriality of the US laws is in conflict with the sovereign law enforcement practice of other states, including the Russian Federation, is substantiated.