Economic sanctions are economic penalties assessed by one country (or group of countries) on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions can include tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, import or export quotas, and other monetarily damaging penalties. Economic sanctions are frequently retaliatory in nature. For instance if China sells large amounts of steel at extremely low prices (called dumping), the United States may impose a high tarriff in order to protect domestic steel manufacturers. Economic sanctions frequently result in trade wars. Economic sanctions are not always imposed because of economic circumstances. The United Nations imposed stringent economic sanctions upon Iraq for failing to allow U.N. weapons inspectors access into Iraq's arsenals. These sanctions were unusually severe in that very little in the way of trade goods were allowed into or out of Iraq during the saction period.
