The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has no immediate plans to levy economic sanctions on Chinese officials in response to the Microsoft Exchange hack that the U.S. blames on Beijing, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some in the administration cite concern that sanctions wouldn’t be as effective as other approaches in deterring future cyberattacks by China, according to two people who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. But the U.S. hasn’t ruled out the possibility of sanctions in the future, they said.
For now, the U.S. sees the most effective response to China as joining with other countries to publicly expose and criticize the scale of Beijing’s cyber activities. The U.S., U.K., NATO and other allies on Monday formally attributed the Microsoft Exchange hack to actors affiliated with the Chinese government.