But state sanctions often can confuse the message the United States sends and impede our ability to build coalitions to focus on the targeted regime. Let me outline a few concerns we have about state sanctions. Our first concern is whether sanctions are effective in pursuing the goals we all share. As I said before, to be most effective, sanctions should have multilateral support and participation wherever possible. While the U S. is the largest economy and most important country, sanctions by the U.S alone may not have the desired impact because they can be sometimes and often are circumvented.
Sanctions often are ineffective unless they are supported by other key countries.
Second, from the Department of State's perspective, we are concerned that state and local sanctions may impair the President's ability to send a clear and unified message to the rest of the world. As the nation to which the world looks for leadership, the United States has the obligation to project a coherent and consistent message. We would like to work with you to send a clear message to oppressive regimes. But ad hoc and scattered actions at various levels of government, however well-intentioned, can do more harm than good in achieving the desired objective. They can impede the President's and Secretary of State's conduct of foreign policy.