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The Sanctions Age
The Sanctions Age is a podcast that explores how sanctions are changing the world.
Twenty years ago, the U.S. Department of Treasury had imposed sanctions on fewer than 1,000 companies and individuals. Today, more than 10,000 entities have been targeted.
Leaders around the world are imposing sanctions in response to wars, nuclear proliferation, terrorism, human rights violations, and technological competition. As a result, a growing list of countries are targeted by sanctions, export controls, and investment restrictions, including China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and Syria.
The Sanctions Age invites the people who understand sanctions best—economists, historians, lawyers, policymakers, and journalists—to explain their use and significance. Understanding sanctions is the key to understanding politics and economics today.
We are living in The Sanctions Age.
The Sanctions Age
How to Fight an Economic War
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Edward Fishman on how to fight an economic war.
It has been an extraordinary year in American economic statecraft and economic warfare. When today’s guest last appeared on the show, it was April 2025. We spoke just days after Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs had thrown global markets into chaos. At the time, much of the conversation about economic warfare was speculation about what Trump might do. A year later, we know what Trump’s economic warfare looks like in practice—and it’s not a pretty picture.
This episode features returning guest Edward Fishman. Since his last appearance on the podcast, Eddie has taken up a new position at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is Senior Fellow and Director of the new Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomics. The conversation will unpack Eddie’s new Foreign Affairs essay titled “How to Fight an Economic War: A Field Manual for a Ruptured World.”
The Sanctions Age is hosted by Esfandyar Batmanghelidj and Josefine Petrick.
To receive an email when new episodes are released, access episode transcripts, and read the hosts reflections on each episode, sign-up for the The Sanctions Age newsletter on Substack: https://www.thesanctionsage.com/