ETYM Spanish, from embargar to arrest, restrain; pref. em- (Latin in) + Spanish barra bar, akin to French barre bar. Related to Bar.
A government order imposing a trade barrier; SYN. trade embargo, trade stoppage.
The legal prohibition by a government of trade with another country, forbidding foreign ships to leave or enter its ports. Trade embargoes may be imposed on a country seen to be violating international laws.
They may be used as a tool of bilateral (political) policy, such as the embargo of sensitive technology that existed between the US and the USSR.

To prevent commerce.