Commerce Secretary slams curbs

WASHINGTON, July 8: India's view that US sanctions would be counter-productive has found support from unexpected quarters with US Commerce S...

WASHINGTON, July 8: India8217;s view that US sanctions would be counter-productive has found support from unexpected quarters with US Commerce Secretary William Daley lamenting that sanctions had become a preferred policy option instead of being a measure of last resort.

Imposing sanctions would have no meaning in the absence of multilateral cooperation, Daley warned while addressing a conference of the Bureau of Export Administration last night. If unilateral sanctions do not succeed and if the US restricts supercomputer exports, others would produce them.

The US leads in many high tech applications, but we no longer have a monopoly in most product lines. We live in a world of globalisation and joint ventures, he said.

Sanctions that impose more costs on US interests than on the targetted country do not send a message of Washington8217;s resolve or commitment and history has shown that sanctions are effective only if backed by multilateral cooperation, he said. Emphasising on the need for closer consultationsbetween Congress and the executive branch on sanctions, Daley said US must ensure that any future sanctions are effective and do not undermine Washington8217;s foreign and commercial policy. Despite the assessment by the President8217;s Export Council last year that US sanctions had a very poor success record, the number of countries threatened with or subject to sanctions have gone up from 75 to 90 in a year, he pointed out.

Sanctions are becoming a real concern and they 8220;run the risk of creating a patchwork quilt of differing restraints that is costly and confusing, especially to small and medium businesses that want to sell their goods globally,8221; he cautioned. In fact, there are only a few items of export even in the high-tech areas which the US has a monopoly on, Daley said while pointing out that exports now support 12 million jobs in the US and bring in billions to its economy.

Unfortunately not everyone is taking these things into account and many in Washington and even in State Legislatures seemcommitted to expanding the range of unilateral sanctions, the Commerce Secretary said. Referring to China, Daley said while the risk-free option was to stop all exports to Beijing, this is not an alternative that US could afford.