This is a tried and true American imperialist strategy. Economic warfare like sanctions and embargoes, barring countries from participating in trade is how you try to choke a country to death. See Cuba, Haiti, Bolivia.
Usually it's an authoritarian country and the expectations is that the country will break up in revolution so US envoys can swoop in and install a "favorable candidate" - while sometimes employing the CIA to help in that process, maybe with a little assassination - as a treat.
But, the problem is, even though the country might have a despot, autocrat - or heaven forbid: a left leaning government - the people still are aware of the foreign encroacher.
Expecting them to bend to the whims of some sorted agent of foreign principal - who has a history of toppling legitimate governments - is insulting to the intelligence.
But ofc to Trump all people other than him are stupid - especially the US citizen - and that's also how the republicans feel and why the US hasn't won a single goddamn war in ages.
