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Stacks of aluminium ingots preparing for shipping at the Sayanogorsk aluminium smelter, operated by United Co. Rusal, in Sayanogorsk, Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. Rusal - the biggest aluminium producer outside China - and seven other Deripaska-linked firms were among a list of 12 Russian companies the US hit with sanctions to punish Russia for actions in Crimea, Ukraine and Syria, and attempting to subvert Western democracies. Photo: Bloomberg

US struggles with penalty on Rusal, testing Donald Trump’s use of sanctions as a weapon

Commodities

President Donald Trump’s attempt to wield US economic strength as a weapon against foreign adversaries is being tested as the Treasury Department struggles to contain the fallout from its sanctions against the world’s second-largest aluminium producer.

The financial penalties imposed on Russia’s United Co. Rusal in April were intended to punish its majority owner, billionaire Oleg Deripaska, as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But global aluminium prices shot up as much as 20 per cent in the first week the sanctions were announced, throwing the global market into chaos that’s since continued, threatening a worldwide shortage of the metal, and forcing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to backtrack.

Rusal is among the largest companies the US has ever put on its sanctions designation list. The value of the aluminium producer has plummeted to US$4.15 billion as of October 5 from US$9.2 billion a little more than six months ago.

In general, Trump has made unprecedented use of financial levers to pressure countries including North Korea, Iran and even Nato ally Turkey. Sanctions designations jumped 30 per cent in 2017 compared to former President Barack Obama’s final year in office, according to the law firm Gibson Dunn.

Sanctions are a valuable tool for US presidents, essentially allowing them to take on adversaries without resorting to actual bloodshed. But the Rusal penalties have caused such widespread pain that Mnuchin may be forced to holster what’s become one of Trump’s favourite weapons in his global economic war.

“The rapid growth in sanctions is giving rise to an equally rapid rise in costs and unintended consequences,” said Peter Harrell, a fellow at the Centre for New American Security, a Washington-based research group, and a former Obama administration State Department official. “The US’s aggressive use of sanctions may finally spur allies and major companies to develop alternatives to the US financial system that gives our sanctions enormous global weight.”

The European Union in September announced a plan with Russia and China to sidestep US sanctions on Iran by using a payment system separate from the dollar to give oil buyers a way to buy Iranian crude, which Trump will block in November. The creation of a trade channel outside the US financial system would soften the sanctions’ bite and make it easier for Iran to continue selling its oil.

Venezuela, meanwhile, whose economy the US has helped cripple through sanctions intended to target government corruption, has created a cryptocurrency called Petro, backed by the country’s oil reserves, as a way to avoid using the dollar.

In both cases, the nations’ ability to maintain trade flows while not using the US currency is unclear.

Negotiations Since April

Aluminium markets are now focused on the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which implements sanctions, as investors and customers wait for a decision on Rusal. Treasury has been in negotiations since April with Rusal’s parent company, En+ Group Plc, on what it would take to lift the restrictions on the companies. Over the past six months, OFAC has slowly extended the deadline to comply.

Each extension has brought relief to aluminium markets, with the first one in April trimming prices nearly 10 per cent.

Critics say the large market swings are proof that Treasury went after a target that was too big. As customers rushed to halt dealings with the world’s second-largest aluminium supplier, workers at Rusal facilities across western Europe wondered about their job prospects. Disruptions in supplies of a metal used in everything from aircraft to computers to power lines threatened to ripple across other economic sectors.

But Treasury officials have been steadfast in their defence of taking on Rusal. Mnuchin has said repeatedly that the impact, however large, was expected, and that the goal was not to put the company out of business.

“The US government is able to unleash incredibly powerful sanctions, and can do so confident in the knowledge that as additional information comes in, they can ameliorate the impact of those sanctions on US and third-country businesses,” said John Smith, who was director of OFAC at the time the sanctions on Rusal were announced. He left in May.

Deripaska has paid a price for the sanctions. Since the April 6 announcement, the Russian’s wealth has dropped 59 per cent to US$3.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

OFAC’s next step is expected in November. It again extended the deadline for cutting ties with companies controlled by Deripaska until just after the US midterm elections, delaying a clash with Congress over the handling of sanctions against Russia.

Deripaska’s companies have approached Treasury about substantial changes that it signalled could lead to being removed from the sanctions list, a move that would be a tough sell to Congress, where lawmakers are eager to go harder on Russia. Treasury may also need Congress’ approval to lift sanctions related to Deripaska.

Treasury is “in a very tough position,” said Dan Fried, who previously served as a coordinator for sanctions policy at the State Department. Europeans companies are agitating to ease sanctions on Rusal because of the impact on the aluminium market, while many US lawmakers argue Mnuchin is going too easy on Russia.

Lawmakers in both parties are considering stiff automatic sanctions, including on new issuance of Russian sovereign debt and the nation’s energy sector. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana has gone so far as to ask Treasury how Russia’s economy can be “brought to its knees” through sanctions. And Treasury officials have promised more penalties on Russia.

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