Jerome Teelucksingh
THE DECISION of the US to impose tariffs on imported goods entering that country is an old strategy. A similar foreign policy had been utilised as early as 432 BC by the Athenian Empire, which levied economic sanctions on Megara.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, one economic policy regularly employed was mercantilism. It was specially crafted to ensure a nation's wealth increased through exports. France and Britain were among the European nations with mercantilist policies. However, mercantilism existed in theory but not in practice. The reason being there was illegal trade and the presence of pirates and privateers who ignored these protectionist policies.
The embargo was another mercantilist regulation that was based on exclusion.
Some would be familiar with the infamous embargo that the US imposed on Cuba. The embargo was enforced in March 1958 during the rule of Fulgencio Batista. And it continued when Fidel Castro became the leader of Cuba. Not surprisingly, Castro blamed the embargo, and not communism, for his country’s economic problems. The use of this embargo is an unjust form of punishment in which innocent citizens suffer.
Additionally, the US sanctions against Russia is similar to the earlier Continental System (also known as Continental Blockade) which France enforced against England from 1806 to 1814.
Armand Lefebvre contended that for Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France, everything was dominated by the struggle against England. This was particularly accurate when the creation of the Continental System is considered.
Pieter Geyl in Napoleon: For and Against argued that the French foreign policy was "an exaggerated" and "untenable one." Geyl is partly accurate because the Continental System had far-reaching goals.
Napoleon had created a "prison" in which he deliberately sought to block European nations from trading with Britain. He wanted to destroy the British economy and attempted to do so by ensuring British goods were restricted from entering Europe.
Napoleon’s efforts initially seemed successful. He was able to convince nations as Russia, Austria, and Prussia to co-operate and close their ports to British goods. However, curtailing part of the European trade did not cripple the British economy.
Amidst this turmoil, president Thomas Jefferson and the US Congress passed the Embargo Act in 1807 which stopped nearly all American exports to foreign countries and restricted imports from Britain. This act was an attempt to get Britain and France to recognise the neutrality of the US and to respect its maritime rights. Unfortunately, the act adversely affected the US economy.
One of the major reasons for the failure of the Continental System was because Britain had overseas colonies (in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia) and thus was not solely dependent on European trade.
Secondly, the arrogant Napoleon also failed to implement an alternative plan when Britain began contracting out its shipments to neutral vessels. Napoleon and his other European nations
