“Harshest.” “Strongest.” “Toughest ever.” How many times have we heard such sanctions hyperbole before?

The new measures announced by the Trump administration on Friday are in fact significant. But in the sanctions enforcement game, “significant” suggests something more modest. The reasons have to do with the economics of sanctions evasion.

As sanctions tighten, the returns on doing risky business with North Korea actually go up. We can thus expect the same mixed report card on these sanctions as on the past ones. As North Korea faces new constraints, new evidence on evasion will also continue to surface.

The more important