"By slapping sanctions on Russia, the White House created a vast legal minefield"

Thomas Gift, founding director of University College London’s Centre on U.S. Politics, told Newsweek that the administration could have “costed in” corporations’ response to sanctions into their policy.

“The history of regulation is the history of unintended consequences,” Gift said. “By slapping sanctions on Russia, the White House created a vast legal minefield that U.S. firms are understandably – and imperfectly – just learning to navigate.”

“It’s clear the Biden administration didn’t predict the extent of self-sanctioning that companies would impose to avoid the legal liability – and political fallout – from violations,” he said.

Gift said that corporations will “bend over backwards to avoid sanctioning, of course, they’ll run up millions in lawyers’ fees to ensure compliance, and of course, many will take a cautious approach when the rules are unclear.”

“Even if one thinks sanctions should still have gone ahead as they did, the bottom line is that this behavior by firms, and its impact on the U.S. economy, should have been costed in,” he added. “The fact that it wasn’t is a blunder by the White House.”