Roundtable on Russia Sanctions

This event, held under the Chatham House rule, examined U.S. sanctions on Russia and their effect on the Europe banking system, the risk that sanctions could impact the role of the dollar, future Congressional legislation regarding Russia, and the differing implications for European banks of sanctions on Russia and Iran. The issue of secondary sanctions was also discussed, particularly the way that they could end up hurting the United States and benefiting other large global economies like China and India. While there have been moves in Europe to consider ways to circumvent the dollar, it is clear that the euro cannot replace the dollar. Still, as European discussions about creating a special purpose vehicle to continue trading with Iran demonstrate, in the long run U.S. overuse of sanctions could lead to de-dollarization and even de-financialization in global transactions.