Matthew Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow and director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at The Washington Institute.
What does it mean for Damascus, for Washington, and for U.S. partners and allies now that the Trump administration has dismissed fifty years worth of economic sanctions against Syria?
President Trump's sudden decision to drop all sanctions on Syria caused cheers and confusion.
Peeling away the many layers of sanctions that have been leveled on Syria since the 1970s could help the country's new government rescue the economy from the devastation of a half century of authoritarian rule and more than a decade of civil war. But what are these sanctions? Does President Trump even have the authority to end them? And can the new leadership in Syria be trusted to follow through on their assurances to minorities within Syria and their surrounding neighbors without this leverage?
Former Treasury official Matthew Levitt breaks down the U.S. sanctions regime and explains how the government can carefully reduce the burden on the emerging Syrian economy. Levitt is the Fromer-Wexler Senior Fellow and the Director of the Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
