ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the background of the crisis between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US). It illustrates the overall EU policy towards Washington. It then explores what types of sanctions have been imposed by the EU since 1996. The chapter analyses the restrictive measures, looking at their impact, effects and effectiveness. It highlights the few lessons on effectiveness that can be drawn from the experience of the EU against the US. The EU's adoption of restrictive measures against the US in the mid-1990s teaches us important lessons on contemporary sanctions and how they can be integrated successfully into wider political strategies. The role of the US was central in the early steps of EU integration, and transatlantic relations were likewise of fundamental importance in the 1990s. Joint Action 668 was an important element in a complex strategy to remove, neutralize, block and counter the extra-territorial effects of the Torricelli, Helms-Burton and D'Amato Acts.
