Even before Clinton invoked the first-ever penalties under a 1994 nuclear sanctions law, India announced it had conducted a second round of tests despite global criticism and pleas for restraint. Clinton announced the U.S. sanctions during a news conference with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the opening of a two-day visit marking the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. He added India is soon to have the world's largest population and already has the biggest middle class.
Sanctions are mandatory under U.S. law when an undeclared nuclear state explodes a nuclear device.
The sanctions ban U.S. assistance except humanitarian aid. The sanctions bar the export of certain defense and technology material, terminate all foreign military financing, end U.S. credit and credit guarantees to India, and bar American banks from making loans or extending credit to the government except for purchasing food. The requirement to vote against international lending for India could be the most significant penalty.