Scope and Overview of Sanctions During Trump’s First Presidency
During his first term from January 2017 to January 2021, President Donald Trump’s administration significantly expanded the use and intensity of economic sanctions as a core weapon of U.S. foreign policy. These sanctions targeted several countries identified as adversaries or as actors engaged in behavior contrary to U.S. interests and global norms. The principal countries subjected to sanctions during this period were Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Russia, China, and Cuba.
Countries Targeted and Official Reasons for Sanctions
Iran
Sanctions against Iran were amplified markedly under a “maximum pressure” campaign after the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018. The stated reasons for targeting Iran included concerns over its nuclear program, ballistic missile development, support for terrorism, human rights abuses, and regional destabilization. Sanctions focused on vital sectors such as energy, shipping, steel, banking, and individuals linked to the regime, intending to curtail Iran’s capacity to fund malign activities and influence its strategic calculations.
Venezuela
The Trump administration imposed several rounds of sanctions on Venezuela in response to documented human rights abuses, corruption, extrajudicial killings, and anti-democratic actions by the regime of President Nicolás Maduro. Oil, finance, and government officials were prime targets, with the articulated goal of pressuring a transition of power, protecting U.S. financial interests, and defending democratic norms.
North Korea
Sanctions against North Korea intensified to constrain its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The rationale included nuclear proliferation, weapons development, cybercrime, and illicit financial activities—seen as direct threats to U.S. security and global stability.
Russia
The Trump administration sanctioned Russia for a range of actions, including annexation of Crimea, election interference, state-sponsored cyberattacks, use of chemical weapons, and human rights abuses. Sanctions extended to individuals, entities, and key sectors like defense and finance, aiming to restrain malign behavior and uphold international norms.
China
Sanctions on China focused on intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers, and human rights abuses, especially those connected to the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The administration also cited China’s failure to stem the flow of fentanyl precursors as a national emergency impacting the U.S. public health crisis.
Cuba
Sanctions on Cuba were ramped up, citing its human rights abuses, support for the Maduro regime, and status as a state sponsor of terrorism. Measures targeted the Cuban military’s economic power, restricted travel and remittances, and barred business with entities linked to state security services.
Nature and Breadth of the Sanctions
Sanctions implemented included asset freezes, bans on trade in specific commodities, exclusion from the U.S. financial system, designation of institutions and individuals, and severe restrictions on international banking and oil exports. The Trump administration increased the number of designated entities and individuals to unprecedented levels, with over 3,900 new sanctions imposed during his four years. The approach was described as “weaponized sanctions”—putting immense pressure on targeted governments by attacking major economic arteries.
Economic and Social Impacts on Targeted Countries
Iran
The sanctions regime devastated Iran’s economy, leading to a recession, hyperinflation, and crash of the national currency. Oil exports, once Iran’s primary source of revenue, plummeted from 2.5 million barrels daily to under 0.5 million, cutting billions of dollars from government income. Restrictions on banking, even with formal exemptions for humanitarian goods, caused severe shortages of medicines, medical equipment, and essential foods because few international banks or suppliers were willing to risk secondary U.S. sanctions. This resulted in critical shortages for patients with cancer, epilepsy, and other serious illnesses, and even impacted emergency humanitarian relief efforts. Living costs soared, poverty rates increased, and inflation for consumer goods and foodstuffs reached 30–60% year-on-year. Public discontent exploded into protests in late 2019, met with brutal crackdowns.
Venezuela
Sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, the backbone of its economy, triggered a dramatic collapse in state revenue, leading to acute shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and basic goods. The country’s GDP contracted by over 70% between 2012 and 2020—the worst peacetime collapse on record. Millions were displaced as mass migration surged across borders; the United Nations and academic studies linked sanctions to excess deaths (tens of thousands) and surges in food insecurity and mortality. Deterioration in healthcare infrastructure and limitations in medical supply imports left the population exposed to rampant disease and malnutrition.
North Korea
Sanctions targeting North Korea’s trade, shipping, and financial networks severely restricted legal exports and humanitarian imports. While aiming to pressure the regime, they also contributed to shortages of food and basic goods, reducing domestic production capacity and impeding urgently needed humanitarian aid deliveries. Reports indicate “debilitating humanitarian and developmental impacts” on the civilian population, including heightened food insecurity and poor health outcomes.
Russia
Sanctions on Russia hurt major sectors such as defense, finance, and key oligarch-controlled enterprises. Secondary and tertiary impacts included restricted access to international financing, limitations in technology imports, and a chilling effect on foreign investment. The broader Russian population experienced knock-on effects in terms of inflation, reduced employment opportunities, and slower economic growth, although the overall suffering was less acute than in Iran or Venezuela.
China
Sanctions and tariffs on China aimed at technology companies, defense entities, and persons linked to abuses in Xinjiang or military expansion. The impact was most pronounced in terms of diplomatic isolation, trade restrictions, and restricted access to certain Western technologies and capital markets, although the general population experienced less direct deprivation in basic living standards from these measures.
Cuba
Tighter sanctions on Cuba during Trump’s presidency targeted the military’s control of the economy, and restricted travel and remittances, while also impeding the flow of U.S. dollars and commerce to the island. The private sector, fragile and emergent, was disproportionately affected, with fewer U.S. visitors, declining remittance flows, and constraints on access to imported food and medicine. Chronic shortages worsened, especially in rural areas, and further cuts would deepen the humanitarian crisis, exacerbating food insecurity and migration pressures.
How Sanctions Lead to Suffering Among Civilian Populations
Sanctions of the scope and severity imposed under the Trump administration fundamentally altered day-to-day life in targeted countries, with consequences that encompassed:
Poverty and Food Insecurity: Massive contraction in national income, currency depreciation, and loss of government revenue led to soaring living costs and unemployment, reducing the ability of families to purchase basic food and necessities.
Medicine and Healthcare Shortages: Sanctions on banking blocked routine imports of medicines and medical equipment, often resulting in avoidable deaths from illnesses such as cancer, epilepsy, and chronic diseases—especially in Iran and Venezuela.
Worsening Public Health: Public health systems crumbled under compounded pressures of financial collapse and pandemic shocks, limiting vaccination, emergency relief, and routine care.
Displacement and Mass Migration: Millions fled Venezuela and Cuba as economic conditions collapsed, straining social services in neighboring countries and contributing to regional instability.
Loss of Livelihood and Social Dislocation: In all affected countries, disruption of trade, industry closures, and devaluation destroyed employment options, and emerging private sectors in countries like Cuba suffered the loss of incoming capital and demand.
Consequences for National Stability and Regional Security
The deepening of misery among civilian populations resulted in highly visible patterns of protest, instability, and migration. In some countries, the suffering led to mass demonstrations (e.g., Iran’s 2019 protests), brutal state violence, and crackdowns. Prolonged hardship forced millions to migrate from Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, contributing to cross-border humanitarian emergencies and pressurizing U.S. allies and neighbors. These dynamics in turn created security, economic, and political challenges regionally and internationally.
Conclusion
In summary, the Trump administration’s aggressive use of economic sanctions between 2017 and 2021 dramatically increased pressure on the governments of Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, Russia, China, and Cuba, aiming to coerce regime change, curb malign behavior, or defend U.S. interests. While some policy objectives were partially achieved or symbolically reinforced, the humanitarian cost was enormous. Ordinary citizens faced poverty, hunger, shortages of medicines, and deteriorating public health infrastructure, leading to suffering that outlasts the sanctions themselves and poses long-term consequences for national and regional stability.
