United States ( Europe Brief News): The United States is likely to issue some sanctions relief to Syria in the coming weeks following President Donald Trump’s announcement that all sanctions targeting Damascus would be lifted.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Trump intends to issue waivers under the “Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act”, through which Washington imposed stiff sanctions on former President Bashar al-Assad’s government and secondary sanctions on outside companies or governments that worked with it.
A Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that the Treasury Department “would likely issue general licenses covering a broad range of the economy that is critical to rebuilding in the coming weeks.”
Trump’s Announcement On Sanctions
Trump said on Tuesday that he would order the lifting of all sanctions on Syria at the behest of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, in a major U.S. policy shift that took some in his own administration off guard and left the Treasury and State departments scrambling to understand how to unwind the sanctions. Rubio told reporters in Antalya, Turkey that the U.S. aims to contribute as much as possible toward a peaceful and stable Syria as it ends 13 years of war, as reported by Reuters.
He added that Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. Congress had asked the Trump administration to use waiver authorities in the “Caesar Act” to lift sanctions.
“That’s what the president intends to do. The waivers must be renewed again after 180 days. Ultimately, if we make enough progress, we’d like to see the law repealed, because you’re going to struggle to find people to invest in a country when in six months sanctions could come back,”
Rubio said.
“We’re not there yet, that’s premature.”
In order to overturn the bill, Congress would need to act, but the president has the authority to temporarily stop the sanctions for national security purposes. Trump may also decide to issue a general license to make part or all of the sanctions ineffective again. “I think as we make progress hopefully we’ll be in a position soon, or one day, to go to Congress and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions,” Rubio said.
Syria’s foreign minister was in Washington two weeks ago and preparatory work was already underway regarding the Syria sanctions, most of which are statutory under the “Caesar Act,” Rubio said.
If U.S. sanctions that block Syria from the world financial system are lifted, it would allow more humanitarian organisations to help in Syria and support efforts to upgrade the country’s economy. Trump explained that because sanctions achieved what they set out to do, they would be lifted to help give Syria a new start.
The Treasury Department in a post on X on Thursday said it was working with the State Department and National Security Council to execute Trump’s decision.
“We look forward to implementing the necessary authorisations that would be critical to bringing new investment into Syria,”
it said.
