The International Herald Leader, under Xinhua News, recently published an article accusing the United States of applying its domestic laws to international affairs. For now, this is reflected in the Iranian sanction effort (banning U.S. banks from doing business with countries who keep buying oil from Iran). The article referred to a recent announcement that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made on March 20, 2012. Clinton temporarily relaxed sanctions on the financial organizations of many countries that are U.S. allies. However, under Section 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act, sanctions remain for countries like China and India, who keep a normal oil trade relationship with Iran. The article claimed that U.S. allies like South Korea and Japan have “silent resentment” even though they have cooperated with the United States. The author expressed the belief that the U.S. is abusing its international superpower status to illegally use its domestic laws to regulate other countries. The author suggested that the U.S. approach is rude and that using normal channels to buy oil from Iran does not break any U.N. resolution. The article listed many other examples of how the U.S. uses domestic laws to serve its foreign policies.
Source: International Herald Leader, April 6, 2012
http://news.xinhuanet.com/herald/2012-04/06/c_131508549.htm