The Biden administration is attempting to rally its allies to strengthen sanctions aimed at disrupting the relationship between Russia and China. Washington has increasingly attempted to use trade and financial blacklists to punish Beijing and Moscow for what the White House views as malign behavior, although with little success. 

White House Deputy National Security Adviser For International Economics Daleep Singh made the threat on Tuesday. “To be clear, we have no desire to disrupt all trade between Russia and China, but we and our partners are prepared to use our sanctions and our export controls to prevent the trade of goods and technologies that threaten our collective security,” he said.

According to the US official, Washington and its allies are considering changing the language of existing sanctions to broaden their impact and placing secondary sanctions on organizations that violate the American blacklist. 

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Biden pledged to unleash an economic war on Moscow that would cripple the Russian economy and bring the Kremlin’s war machine to a halt. However, over two years into the war, Russia had ample trading partners who were willing to ignore American sanctions. 

Rather than harming Russia’s capabilities to manufacture weapons, Moscow’s arms production has outpaced Kiev’s collective supporters. 

Washington has reprimanded Beijing with tariffs and sanctions for a host of grievances, including unfair export practices, patent violations, and shipping items to Russia that the US labels as having potential military use. 

The US targeting of Russia and China has driven the two Asian giants to develop significantly deeper ties. That relationship was put on display earlier this month in Beijing when President Putin visited President Xi.