Episode 453 -- Rounding Out Sanctions, Tariff and Trade Developments

In this episode of Corruption, Crime and Compliance, Michael Volkov rounds up three major economic policy developments happening alongside Operation Economic Outcast: the State Department's rescission of Syria's nearly 47-year State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, opening the door to renewed trade and eased export controls; an escalating tariff war with Canada following the collapse of USMCA renewal talks, including a 50 percent tariff on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods and matching retaliation; and the newly enacted Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, with its novel tariff structure reaching up to 500 percent on Russian goods and up to 100 percent on top importers of Russian energy. Volkov argues these developments, read alongside the Iran crackdown, show an administration deploying economic tools more aggressively and across more simultaneous fronts than at any point in recent memory, and he closes by urging listeners to treat geopolitical risk assessment as a continuous function this quarter rather than a periodic exercise.