Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Thad McBride provided insight on U.S. sanctions for an article in Corporate Compliance Insights outlining the top compliance, risk and governance stories of 2023.
Speaking about the effectiveness of Russian sanctions, Thad said, “U.S. sanctions against Russia have been relatively successful primarily because restrictions generally have been imposed in coordination with allies, including Canada, the EU, the UK and others. Too many countries continue to conduct business as usual with Russia to make the U.S. sanctions — and those of its allies — truly punishing to Russia’s economy. But the multilateral nature of the sanctions has nonetheless made them far more effective than in the all-too-often case in which the United States acts unilaterally.”
Thad added, ““From a U.S. trade controls perspective, the most significant implication [of the war] has been the restrictions on business with Russia, which prior to the February 2022 invasion, was a large trading partner for U.S. companies. While some trade is still permissible, many businesses have decided to halt all operations in or involving Russia. Even if some resolution to the current situation is reached, we would not expect Russia to be an attractive market for U.S. companies for some time.”
The full article, “A Look Back: Top Stories of 2023,” was published by Corporate Compliance Insights on December 20 and is available online. In addition to Thad’s comments about sanctions, Bass, Berry & Sims attorneys Riney Green and Roy Wyman were also quoted in the article. Riney spoke about the impact of the Corporate Transparency Act and Roy spoke about the myriad of state data privacy laws, also important top stories this past year.