President Donald Trump signed an executive order rolling back enforcement of a law that bars US companies from bribing foreign officials, arguing that the restriction puts American firms at a disadvantage.
Trump is ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to pause actions taken under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act until she issues new enforcement guidelines, according to a fact sheet on the executive order. All current and past actions will also be reviewed.
The act bars a company or person with US links to pay money or offer gifts to foreign officials as a way to win business overseas. Trump weighed trying to scrap the law during his first term.
“U.S. companies are harmed by FCPA overenforcement because they are prohibited from engaging in practices common among international competitors, creating an uneven playing field,” the fact sheet said.
“It turns out that in practicality it’s a disaster,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon. “Nobody wants to do business with the Americans.”
The act has been used to impose hundreds of millions of dollars in fines on companies around the world, including Glencore Plc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
“This is a horrible idea that US companies DO NOT WANT,” Richard Nephew, senior research scholar at Columbia University and former anti-corruption coordinator at the State Department, said on X. “Sure, you may find one or two, but most appreciate the fact that FCPA allows them to be firm in refusing bribes because most private sector companies – sensibly – see bribery as an unproductive cost.”
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