The president said the change will open up business opportunities for American companies.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday aimed at improving American companies’ economic prospects by limiting enforcement of business transactions under foreign corruption laws.
“It’s going to mean a lot more business for America,” Trump said, while signing the order in the Oval Office.
Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act—established by Congress in 1977 to restrict U.S. businesses from bribing foreign government officials to secure or retain contracts or other business—is ordered paused.
“It’s a disaster for this country,” Trump said. “It sounds so good but it’s so bad. Many, many deals are unable to be done because of it.”
He suggested other companies shy away from entering into contracts with American businesses because they fear repercussions from the law.
“It’s almost a guaranteed investigation, indictment, and nobody wants to do business with Americans because of it,” Trump said. “You deal with the Americans, the FBI goes over there. They don’t investigate death and murder on the streets of New York and Los Angeles, they go investigate a business guy trying to do business.”
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White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf described the Act as “devastating to business opportunities and competitiveness,” and said the order being signed by the president would “allow Americans to do business abroad” and make it easier for international businesses to trade with U.S. companies.
Before putting his trademark black marker on the document, Trump said that “it takes courage to sign it because you only get bad publicity” but it was necessary because the law is “an absolute horror show for America.”
According to the order, Attorney General Pam Bondi is instructed to oversee the implementation of the new law and to provide guidance about how best to manage the agency’s finite resources. Investigations related to cartels and foreign terrorist organizations are ordered to be prioritized.
The commander in chief has long decried the act as detrimental to foreign business dealings. During a 2012 interview with CNBC four years before he ran for office for the first time, Trump said the law was “absolutely crazy” and called for comprehensive reform because businesses were at a “huge disadvantage.”
During his first term, his administration also oversaw record levels of prosecutions for violations of the corruption act. Agencies filed 184 prosecutions between 2017 and 2022, including 132 initiated by the Department of Justice and 52 by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Former President Joe Biden’s agencies conducted 96 prosecutions over his four years in the White House.
Approximately 31 companies remained under investigation at the end of 2024, according to a Stanford Law School report.
It is unclear how the pause will impact ongoing investigations.
Prior to 2007, when the number of charges spiked to 43, no more than 14 total prosecutions occurred each year.
Since the law was passed nearly 50 years ago, 497 enforcement actions by the Department of Justice and 276 by the Securities and Exchange Commission have taken place.
U.S. regulators fined companies more than $1.5 billion for violations in 2024, according to the Stanford report.
Investigations revealed patterns of activity in India, South Africa, and China, among other nations in recent years that prosecutors alleged violated the law.
