Secondary Boycotts Impair U.S. Leadership. In the last year the United States twice has tried to coerce multilateral support by imposing secondary boycotts - threatening to boycott our allies' companies if they do not support and comply with our sanctions. These actions antagonize the very allies whose support and cooperation we need to manage future threats to world peace. Secondary boycotts focus attention not on the target's objectionable policies or human rights abuses, but on bitter disputes between the United States and its allies over U.S. sanctions. By engaging in secondary boycotts ourselves, we undermine our credibility in opposing such measures when they are threatened by other nations, such as the recent threat by the Arab Foreign Ministers to reinstate the Israel boycott.
Sanctions are Ineffective.
Unilateral economic sanctions frequently fail to achieve foreign policy goals. They are ineffective tools for advancing American values and global peace, and rarely lead to positive change in the behavior of the target regime. The target can almost always find a European, Japanese or other supplier or investor, whether the sanctions restrict sales of technology, farm products, or capital equipment, or prohibit American companies from investing. Success in advancing American interests depends greatly upon our ability to persuade our allies to support our policies and actions. Unilateral Economic Sanctions Undermine American Competitiveness Lost Exports and Jobs.