Ebook: Promoting the Euro – Countering Secondary Sanctions

US-Chinese rivalry will increasingly play out in the geo-economic
realm. The use of secondary sanctions – especially secondary dollar
sanctions – negatively affects German economic interests. The new
German government should therefore intensify efforts to promote
the euro as an international currency coequal to the dollar in addition
to lending its qualified support to EU anti-coercion policies.
– Washington can unilaterally impose dollar sanctions with
relative ease. Such dollar-based sanctions, even though they
may target Chinese entities, will harm Germany’s international
commercial relations in the guise of so-called secondary sanctions.
– In the face of US financial statecraft, Germany’s options
are limited.
Promoting the international role of the euro by
completing monetary union and advancing capital markets
union offers the best prospect of deterring and deflecting
secondary dollar sanctions.