QUORA: WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE SANCTIONED THE US?

Vince Dhimos answered a question at Quora.
 
https://www.quora.com/What-countries-have-sanctions-against-the-US/answer/Vince-Dhimos

International sanctions: Has any nation placed sanctions on the USA?

Vince Dhimos, Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016-present)
 
I enjoyed Todd Autman’s surprising answer, namely, that many countries have imposed tariffs on US goods and that these tariffs are de facto sanctions on the US. China is the prime example. It almost put US soybean farmers out of business. Trump bragged that China paid the tariffs, but that was just another lie. The US public paid them, and each dollar they paid was a dollar extra added to inflation.
 
But the recent intervention by Russia in OPEC has had — and will have — the most devastating impact on the US economy of any such actions by any country so far.
 
I explained the role of the Russian de facto sanction here: https://www.quora.com/Is-China-a-bigger-threat-to-the-western-democracy-than-Russia/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
To further expand on that answer, let me say that Russia will almost certainly keep up the pressure on US shale oil after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides. The prices of oil will rise, but from here on out, Russia will never allow the US to stay on the side-lines and dictate terms to OPEC as it did in the past. Russia, using the “nuclear option” of threats to produce oil without restraints, will keep the US at the OPEC bargaining table very much against its will, and, unlike the past situation, will demand of the US to make the same percentage of cuts as the rest. For years, the US was getting a free ride, making zero production cuts while the other oil producing nations were forced to cut their production by a given percentage just to prop up US shale oil companies. I suspect those days are over. If the US wants the others to cut by 15% or 10%, then the US will cut its production by the same percentage. And that will probably mean the end of US shale oil, which has always been selling at near-loss anyway. Now there may be even less profit for shale oil, although a few companies could actually benefit from the US cuts – if they’re lucky. At any rate, there is no longer a free ride, and the cuts imposed on the US will hardly allow the US to maintain its status as the world’s biggest oil exporter. (And you know what is just mind-bogglingly, amazingly brainless? The US has been desperate to sell its shale oil at a decent price but at the same time it has been trying feverishly to destroy China – it apparently never occurred to these geniuses in Washington that without China, there would be very little market for their oil!).
 
Of course, Russia did not call this pull-out from the OPEC deal a “sanction,” but in fact that is exactly what it was. And it stands to cause much more damage to the US economy than any of the previous US sanctions have caused in Russia. Frankly, I do not see any way forward for the US from here on out.
 
And the biggest bonus for Russia is that it now can use the threat of unrestrained oil production to secure benefits in other areas as well. This should temper those wild anti-Russian statements by members of Congress, the White House, the Pentagon and NATO for a long long time to come.
 
Another question:
 
https://www.quora.com/Is-President-Trumps-suggestion-to-seek-billions-of-dollars-in-damages-from-China-for-causing-the-pandemic-a-legitimate-claim-or-politically-motivated/answer/Vince-Dhimos

Is President Trump's suggestion to seek billions of dollars in damages
China for causing the pandemic a legitimate claim or politically motivated?
 
 
Vince Dhimos, Editor-in-Chief at New Silk Strategies (2016-present)
 
It’s more than politics, it’s desperation, trying to deflect attention from his earlier statements that his administration had “everything totally under control” and that the Democrats were politicizing the virus.
 
Fact check: Trump tries to erase the memory of him downplaying the coronavirus
 
The sad thing about this is that he has a large base of true believers who will believe his claim that he never said the things he said. And an alarming number of his acolytes will believe this lie even though they have heard him say what he is saying he didn’t say!
 
Never before have so many people fallen for such a Pied Piper who obviously lies constantly. And never before has such blatant hypocrisy and obvious lying been tolerated by any nation. But unfortunately, both parties are capable of such incompetence and mendacity and the grassroots of both of these parties will believe anything that their particular chosen one says. This spate of lies is a demonstration not of what Trump and his followers are but of what US “democracy” is.
 
I have commented on this before: https://www.quora.com/Is-China-a-bigger-threat-to-the-western-democracy-than-Russia/answer/Vince-Dhimos
 
Yes, the US dollar is in trouble
 
Monetary expert Byron King says yes, we’ve heard it before, and the dollar pulled through each time. And back then they said it’s different this time. But, he goes on, this time is different.
 
After all, economists are now saying that what lies ahead is Great Depression No. 2. Indeed, the US – and world – economy has lost more in the last few weeks than in any time before the Great Depression, and there are no means available to stop the free-fall. No one can predict what is coming next. Except that it will be a disaster.
 
https://www.streetwisereports.com/article/2020/04/25/byron-king-gold-will-hit-3-000-but-its-going-to-be-a-wild-ride.html
 
“...the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency—is under extreme threat with the breakdown of international oil markets. Breaking down international oil is another way of breaking down the petrodollar. And when the petrodollar fails as a monetary instrument in the world—notice I said when it fails because I'm not sure how you can fix it from here—we are in for a really wild ride.”