Sanctions come at a cost

As President Joe Biden makes way for President-elect Donald Trump, foreign policy analysts are wondering how U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia will change. It’s quite clear that Mr. Trump wants to settle the war in Ukraine quickly. Mr. Fishman argued that Mr. Biden should provide the incoming administration with as much leverage over Moscow as it possibly can by slapping secondary sanctions on Russia’s energy industry.

But such a decision would be a tectonic shift in U.S. policy, and there are significant considerations that need attention before U.S. policymakers adopt it.