Economic Sanctions and WTO Law

States use economic sanctions as part of a policy tool kit to achieve foreign policy objectives against other States. Cuba, Iraq, Iran, South Africa and Myanmar have all been the subject of various sanctions regimes, with the imposition of economic sanctions against Russia in the context of the Ukraine conflict serving as the most recent example.

Although trade is often a component of economic sanctions, there is limited jurisprudence by the World Trade Organization (WTO) on States’ use of such sanctions. This lecture will explore the WTO discipline with regard to economic sanctions and suggest ways to consider the legality of sanctions in general within the framework of the WTO trade regime.