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Treasury Official’s Threat to Sanction Chinese Banks Likely Empty, Say Analysts

By Colby Adams

A U.S. official's threat last month of economic sanctions against four Chinese banks is likely to be toothless given economic and enforcement hurdles, say sanctions analysts. The U.S. Treasury Department's top sanctions official, David Cohen, told journalists in late September that the United States would consider blacklisting Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China should the institutions transact with an Iranian shipping insurance company, Agence France Presse reported. Cohen, who made the warning in Hong Kong after meeting with representatives from the banks, singled out potential transactions tied to Moallem,...

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