Economic sanctions as a plural noun defined from dictionary.com as “any actions taken by one nation or group of nations to harm the economy of another nation or group, often to force a political change.” The United Kingdom based web site oilprice.com posted an article on July 24, 2024, “India’s Top Private Refiner Gets US License to Buy Venezuelan Crude.” The article described the US government’s trade license (license) requirements from the Departments of State and Treasury needed for a private Indian business to buy Venezuela crude oil (crude).
This is one example of US government “adrenaline” injected into the economic sanctions effort against Venezuela. Their government—since 1999 under Hugo Chavez who died in 2013 and his successor Nicolas Maduro—are no shining examples of supporting individual liberty and free market policies. The nation’s implementation of socialism in its many forms continues very high price inflation on everyday citizens.
Economic sanctions, as a general principle, have a history of failure in the 20th century and early 21st century which penalize everyday citizens in the sanctioned country. The US government requiring a license obtained by one private company in India to allow crude trade between it and Venezuela is an example of US foreign policy and economic intervention losing its mind or is in the pride of its power.
The US government granted Venezuela crude sanctions relief between October 2023 and April 2024 which allowed “. . .the production, lifting, sale, and exportation of oil or gas from Venezuela, and the provision of related goods and services, as well as payment of invoices for goods or services related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela.”
Temporary US sanctions relief came when President Maduro promised to ensure fair elections in 2024 allowing opposition candidates to compete for the office of president. The US observed slow progress in Maduro’s election promises. This led the US to reimpose the crude sanctions in April 2024 from a US State Department press release dated March 27, 2024.
The US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) Venezuela sanctions list the number of licenses required to conduct trade is mind numbing and changes over time. This is a great example of federal economic and policy intervention to possibly appease their worldview that we are in control of trade to and from Venezuela. These sanctions occurred under the Trump and Biden administrations so their origin is in the Departments of State and Treasury.
India is the third largest consumer of crude in the world behind China and the US. They need it to fuel their economy of 1.4 billion people. Reliance Industries—the largest private sector company in India, headquartered in Mumbai—was required to obtain the US license to purchase Venezuelan crude.
US foreign policy requiring a private company in one country to obtain a US-issued license to buy crude from another country violates the principle that some things are not any of your business. The foreign policy establishment in Washington, DC has not learned the lesson to keep out of the business of trade between two sovereign nations when it is none of our business in the first place.