The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have paid huge fines after being convicted or settled cases brought under the law. But not anymore, because Donald Trump has decided that it's "bad for business":
Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Justice to halt the enforcement of a US anti-corruption law that bars Americans from bribing foreign government officials to win business.This is of course nakedly corrupt, and it puts the US in violation of the OECD anti-bribery convention, to which it is a party (it may also put it in violation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption). But as withdrawl from the Paris Convention or Trumps ignoring of trade-agreements shows, the US will no longer keep its word on the international stage. Which means there is no point ever negotiating any agreement with them, because they can't be trusted to keep it.“It’s going to mean a lot more business for America,” the president said in the Oval Office after signing an executive order on Monday directing Pam Bondi, the US attorney-general, to pause enforcement of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
A White House official said: “American national security depends on America and its companies gaining strategic commercial advantages around the world, and President Trump is stopping excessive, unpredictable FCPA enforcement that makes American companies less competitive.”
It also seems a bit weird that congress can pass a law, and then a future president can just say "actually, we're not going to enforce that". It seems contrary to both the rule of law and the separation of powers, allowing the president to arbitrarily rewrite the law to suit their whims. But I guess arbitrary executive power is just another way in which America is "exceptional".
