GOP candidates favour sanctions in foreign policy

IF a Republican is elected US president next year, he will very likely create a much more forceful foreign policy based on a playbook of classic US diplomatic options.

The options range from benign Globalism (US leadership helped globalise the world economy) to Rollback (a policy to eliminate communism abroad with US military power, though this was a spectacular failure).

Between the two extremes is the option of aggressive Containment - a strategy to isolate and weaken US enemies through economic sanctions; however, sanctions impose greater costs on American firms than on the target state, which can find substitute sources of supply and finance.