Interview: Renowned U.S. economist says sanctions cause damage, unlikely to succeed

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Sanctions, which cause considerable damage, are "unlikely" to succeed in achieving political aims, a renowned U.S. economist has said.

"The United States and the EU are very energetic in the imposition of sanctions, trade barriers, technology barriers, and financial barriers towards Russia ... I do not agree with this," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and a senior United Nations advisor, has told Xinhua.

Sachs made the remarks after the White House announced Friday that it will revoke Russia's most-favored nation trade status and will ban imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds, the latest move in several rafts of Western sanctions against Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Perceiving sanctions as Washington's widely used instrument, Sachs said, "the rampant use of extra-territorial sanctions and secondary sanctions is unlikely to succeed in their political aims (of the U.S. government), but do cause considerable damage."

The economist, who served as a special advisor to three consecutive UN secretary-generals including Kofi Annan, Ban Ki-moon, and Antonio Guterres from 2001 to 2018, said he believes that negotiation is a wiser and better choice to settle disputes.

The notion that all nations and people of goodwill should support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's enlargement into Ukraine is a "terrible" and "provocative" idea and should be taken off the table now, Sachs said, adding that a country's sovereignty should be respected and its internal affairs brook no interference.

He called for "an increased readiness of all sides" to negotiate a solution to the Ukraine crisis. "It is the failure of diplomacy and the resort to force that is our greatest collective threat," he said.

"We should aim at a peaceful, multi-polar world, in which no country aspires to be a global 'hegemon' and in which alliance politics are replaced by the global rule of law, mutual respect, non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations under the UN principles, and the global rule of law and UN multilateralism," he added.

Sachs urged the U.S. government to "exercise greater prudence and self-restraint," and encourage other countries, including Russia, to do so as well.