How can we put an end to the impunity of the United States on the international scene? – Humanity

On May 1, 2026, in the indifference of Western governments, including ours, Donald Trump further reinforced the asphyxiation that Cuba has suffered since January 3 by giving an ultimatum to all foreign companies and banks operating in the country: they must leave, under penalty of having their assets frozen. financial operations, a ban on access to the United States market and astronomical sanctions by the Office of Assets Control, the office of “extraterritorial sanctions of the United States”.

In other words: the blockade is an act of war against a sovereign country… but also against any company or country wanting to maintain commercial ties with Cuba. The effect is devastating. On May 7, the Canadian company Sherritt, one of the main companies in the nickel sector (the country’s second largest resource after tourism), announced that it was leaving Cuban territory and repatriating all of its employees. On May 18, the French shipping companies CMA CGM and German Hapag-Lloyd announced they were suspending container deliveries to Cuba. Companies close one after the other, leaving hundreds of employees behind and an entire society pushed to collapse…

If the blockade against Cuba is an act of war, and undoubtedly the most inhuman and criminal element of the extraterritoriality of United States law, the commercial and economic aggressiveness of the leading power on a global scale does not date from the arrival of Donald Trump to power. Indeed, the interference of the United States of America in the economic affairs of third countries is one of the preferred weapons to establish their domination and defend the interests of their companies at the international level.

Several United States laws apply directly to French and European companies. In the field of defense and space, for example, any non-US manufacturer must comply with ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and EAR (Export Administration Regulations). The result is dependence, pressure and even fines that could heavily penalize European companies.

From 2019, the report to the National Assembly drawn up by LaREM deputy Raphaël Gauvain at the request of the Prime Minister of the time, Édouard Philippe, called for a reaction to the vulnerability of businesses French and the fact that they “are taken hostage by these American procedures, stuck between a rock and a hard place in a facade “negotiation” process, aggravated by blackmail for access to the American market: in the end, they have no other choice than to self-incriminate by paying astronomical sums to the American Treasury”. Since then nothing has been done…

So are we truly powerless in the face of the hegemony that the United States would like to impose on the world? However, legal levers exist to circumvent this extraterritoriality, at the European level as well as at the national level: European “anti-coercion” regulations, law aimed at strengthening anti-corruption measures, in particular to stop extraterritorial legal proceedings, known as Sapin 2, law blocking 1968…

Why and how should France react? This is the question we decided to ask with the Gabriel-Péri Foundation on Wednesday May 27¹to speakers from diverse backgrounds but with one objective: that of defending our sovereignty and international law in the face of the threat that the United States poses to the world!