Like many other countries, the United States uses economic sanctions and embargoes to promote its interests. Most U.S. sanctions are administered and enforced by the U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

U.S. sanctions vary from comprehensive—such as sanctions on Syria, pursuant to which nearly all transactions with Syria are prohibited—to selective—such as current sanctions on Sudan, under which only certain transactions with designated Sudanese individuals are prohibited. In addition to targeting countries, the U.S. government maintains sanctions on specific governments and other entities, individuals, and even vessels. Sanctions may be imposed because of a party's perceived role in terrorism, weapons proliferation, narcotics trafficking, cybercrime, human rights abuses, corruption, election interference, and other reasons. (Many of these parties are designated as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs), and are essentially radioactive for U.S. legal purposes—almost no transactions are permitted with SDNs.) Penalties for violating U.S. sanctions can be severe.