"What has driven this surge in sanctions? According to Marshall Billingslea, an assistant secretary in the Treasury department, the growth reflects Donald Trump’s innovative 'financial statecraft.' Certainly, they seem an ideal tool for Mr Trump, who wants to put foreigners under lots of pressure but is reluctant to send troops or bombers to do the job. 'Sanctions are perceived to be an option for when words aren't good enough but war is too much,' says Elizabeth Rosenberg, of the Centre for [...]

“‘In financial services, people are very accustomed to these sanctions,’ Ms. Rosenberg said. ‘There’s a lot of existing knowledge about what it means to have sovereign debt restrictions, correspondent banking restrictions.’ “‘But when there are new measures that go at nonfinancials—which is an expressed goal of this administration, for example, in the shipping industry, other manufacturing areas—that is a new compliance challenge for many industries, who haven’t seen this kind of measure being handed out before, and who may not have, [...]