CAATSA

The Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) is an act made by the US legislature which mandates the U.S. administration to impose sanctions on any country carrying out significant defence and energy trade with sanctioned entities in North Korea, Iran and Russia.

India and Russia signed a $5 billion contract for the procurement of S-400 air defense systems during the 2018 annual bilateral summit.
The U.S. had expressed deep concern over the deal and threatened to impose sanctions on India under CAATSA. The US is yet to evoke sanctions against India under the law.

India and the U.S. have had a growing defence relationship — from “near zero” in U.S. arms sales to India in 2008 to $15 billion in 2019.
India was designated a “Major Defence Partner” of the U.S. in 2016 and it was granted Strategic Trade Authorization tier 1 status in 2018. These designations allowed India easier access to sensitive U.S. defence technology.
With this context in mind, several U.S. lawmakers who favoured a close U.S.-India relationship, made a strong case for a CAATSA waiver for countries like India (and also Vietnam and Indonesia), which had historically bought Russian arms but were now buying more U.S. arms.
Consequently, the U.S. President was given the authority in 2018 to waive CAATSA sanctions on a case-by-case basis.
However, U.S. officials across departments have repeatedly stated that India should not assume it will get a waiver.

Recently, the U.S. said that countries, including India, still face the threat of sanctions under CAATSA for the purchase of Russian arms.
This message was reiterated in the context of India’s planned MiG-29 fighter jet deal with Russia at an estimated ₹18,148 crore.
In June last year, India had assertively told the US that it would go by its national interest while dealing with other countries, Russia.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/caatsa-the-spectre-of-us-sanctions/article32053452.ece

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