The Effects of Economic Sanctions on International Trade in the Contemporary Stage

Abstract

With the expansion of Globalization, international trade gains new importance on the global stage, offering a wider range of goods and services and becoming one of the decisive factors for a state's development. Thus, the role of regulating the flow of commercial exchanges becomes evident, especially with the increasing use of economic sanctions, which are employed as a tool to control political relations between major powers. While some agree that economic sanctions have proven to be one of the most diplomatic measures to resolve misunderstandings on the global stage, without resorting to armed force, others think that sanctions are only a tool to control less powerful states. Our paper aims to understand the effects of economic sanctions on a state in the contemporary period by analyzing trade relations between countries and the changes that occurred after the imposition of economic sanctions on a state. The research objectives are to provide a statistical analysis of the trade flows of a state before sanctions, identify the context in which a state was sanctioned, and determine the changes in trade policy promoted by a state after the imposition of economic sanctions. As a case study, we have chosen the Republic of Moldova and the analysis of its trade policy before and after sanctions. UDC: [339.5:341.655](478); JEL: F13, F51, O24, P45.