New sanctions against Russia could hurt US firms
The European Union is joining the U.S. in imposing tough, new sanctions against Russia, which continues to support separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The new measures include an arms embargo and restricted sales of technology and equipment for Russia’s oil industry.
In a big change, the new sanctions target sectors rather than just individuals in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.
“The shootdown of the Malaysian aircraft I think has changed the equation,” says Kenneth Yalowitz, a former U.S. ambassador to Belarus and Georgia, and now a global fellow with the Woodrow Wilson Center.
But the new EU sanctions and the U.S. ones already in place haven’t hit American businesses as badly as some feared.
“U.S. companies, if anything, breathed a little sigh of relief today that they’re not going to be held out relative to their European counterparts,” says Doug Rediker, a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Russia is not a big trading partner with the U.S. Some companies like ExxonMobil and Citigroup might suffer a bit, but the biggest risk is Russian retaliation against big brands like McDonalds, claiming things like “‘some health concerns’ — in quotes — that were expressed by Russian authorities,” says Rediker.
Other potential targets include companies like Visa, MasterCard, and big U.S. accounting firms.
Others see little damage to U.S. companies so far.
“Retaliatory sanctions against businesses in the West, to the extent there have been any, they haven’t been very impactful,” says David Levine, partner with the law firm McDermott, Will & Emery.
A big question now is whether Western governments will have the stomach to continue sanctions for moral reasons, or whether trade and commercial interests will win out.
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