Shield of the Republic A New Era of Economic Warfare
May 1, 2025
Edward Fishman, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and an adjunct professor at Columbia, shares his expertise on economic warfare. He discusses how the U.S. has weaponized the dollar and technology, making sanctions an alternative to military action. Fishman highlights historical examples like the Non-Intercourse Act and explores the consequences of sanctions against Iran and Russia. He questions whether economic warfare can truly change authoritarian regimes' behavior and examines shifts in global economic power.
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Dollar as a Powerful Choke Point
- The dollar is a unique choke point as it dominates global trade and finance, making access to it a powerful lever in economic warfare.
- The transformation to a liberalized, dollar-based financial system since the 1970s created unprecedented U.S. leverage in global finance.
US Leads Semiconductor Control
- The U.S. dominates the semiconductor value chain, creating leverage through export controls to restrict high-tech access to adversaries.
- Export controls like the Foreign Direct Product Rule have become a potent weapon alongside financial sanctions.
North Korea Sanctions Prematurely Lifted
- Stuart Levy and the Treasury's 2005 Banco Delta Asia action significantly cut North Korea's financial access.
- Despite this success, diplomacy led to prematurely lifting sanctions, losing leverage.
