Month: January 2021

During the past 2 years, the US government has intensified its economic sanctions against China. These sanctions have been enacted & imposed by several government branches and executive departments, including Congress, President, Commerce, Treasury, Defense, & Justice, and were based primarily on the following federal statutes:

• International Emergency Powers Act of 1977
• National Emergencies Act of 1976
• Export Administration Act of 1979
• Export Control Reform Act of 2018
• Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act of 2012
• United States-Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992
• Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019
• Hong Kong Autonomy Act of 2020
• Section 1237 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999
• Defense Production Act of 1950
• Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act of 2020
• Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930

It has been questioned whether prior economic sanctions were effective against smaller authoritarian regimes such as Iraq, Iran, or N Korea. (See, eg, here & here.) The effectiveness of these sanctions against China, the second largest economy in the world, can be even more uncertain, particularly considering the potential counter measures by China. (See, eg, here & here.)

Moreover, sanctions may be subject to changes in politics and enforcement variations. For example, on 5/16/2019, the Commerce Department added Huawei and its subsidiaries to the export blacklist, but a few days later granted a temporary general license to the sanctioned entities for more than a year, until 8/17/20, when the temporary general license was replaced by more limited but permanent authorizations. Additionally, many of the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration are expected to be modified by the upcoming Biden administration.

Regardless of their level of effectiveness, these sanctions do minimally provide certain information contents – those actions & actors that have been determined by the US government (Congress, President, & executive agencies) to “constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat […] to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States”. (§1701(a) of the International Emergency Powers Act.) Such information may be valuable in risk assessments, for example with respect to business transactions, even if not for compliance purposes.

Below is an incomplete list of some of the sanctions against China imposed by US in the past 2 years, grouped into 6 categories: Technology (Huawei), Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Defense, Technology, & Investment. The citations of the sanction statutes, orders, & rules (in Pub L or Federal Register), if available, are included, so one can readily find more info, such as the identities of the sanctioned entities.