Embargo

An embargo is a government-sponsored injunction against the sale of goods to a foreign country and/or the importation of goods from another country. Though embargoes are designed to adversely affect the economy of another country, they are usually motivated by political reasons—i.e., to punish an offending country. Embargoes are less costly than military intervention, both in money and lives, and they are less likely to be opposed by other countries in the region or world.
The United States’ use of embargoes against specific goods is justified on the grounds of national security. Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the president is authorized to take actions to “adjust the imports” of any good that may impair the national security. In addition to national defense, economic welfare is considered part of national security under the act. In the United States, complete embargoes of goods from some nations are undertaken through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or the Trading with the Enemy Act. U.S. embargoes against goods from North Korea, Libya, Vietnam (until 1994), and Cuba all originated under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
In the 20th century, the longest-lasting and most famous U.S. embargo has been the ban against trade with Cuba. Enacted in the early 1960s, the Cuban embargo was a reaction to the expropriation of private businesses, many of them owned by Americans, and the communist rhetoric of Fidel Castro’s government. For over 40 years, the United States has prohibited trade with Cuba.
An embargo is not a blockade; it is an economic sanction. For any embargo to be effective, other countries must agree to cooperate with the sanction. Before the rise of Fidel Castro, Cuba was a major trading partner with the United States. In 1959 Cuban exports to the United States exceeded those from Mexico. After the embargo, Cuba expanded trade relations with the then Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries under Soviet control, trading sugar for oil and other goods previously imported from the United States. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, trade and Soviet subsidies of the Cuban economy ended. The Cuban government then turned to other trade partners, primarily Spain and Mexico, developing new business arrangements and investments.
In 1992 the U.S. government attempted to expand its embargo against Cuba, passing the Cuban Democracy Act. Designed to force developing countries to adhere to the U.S. embargo, the act prohibits trade by subsidiaries of U.S. firms with Cuba and bars ships using Cuban ports from entering U.S. ports for six months after leaving Cuba. A provision of the act also terminates eligibility for U.S. economic aid, debt reduction, and debt forgiveness for any country providing assistance to Cuba. Most U.S. trading partners objected strongly to the Cuban Democracy Act, passing legislation prohibiting U.S. subsidiaries operating in their countries from complying with the act.
Sometimes the United States has banned specific products from entering the country, including oil imports from Iran (1979) and Libya (1982) and wheat from the Soviet Union (1978). The wheat embargo, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, had little impact as Soviet buyers found ready suppliers of grains from South American producers.