About the book: 2024 / Sanctions have become the main instrument of US foreign policy. Economic enforcement measures such as trade tariffs, financial penalties and export controls affect many companies and governments around the world. Some sanctions target non-state actors (such as Islamist terrorist groups), others apply to entire sectors of the economy and even countries, including North Korea, Iran, China and Russia. Do these measures achieve their intended goals or only harm American interests? Agathe Desmarais explores the impact of sanctions on multinational corporations, national governments and millions of people around the world. The author analyzes a wide range of topics from the “semiconductor race” between the United States and China to the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran and Northeast Russia in Ukraine and comes to the conclusion that sanctions are transforming global politics and economics, reducing the influence of the United States. States and companies are looking for ways to circumvent restrictions, governments of “target” countries are rallying among themselves, and China and Russia are forming an alternative center of gravity in the world.