Wither Anti-Corruptionism? Trump and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

• In Event: Crime, Law, Justice and the Trump Administration 1: Punishment, Impunity, and Corruption

Abstract

In February 2025, President Trump issued an executive order for the Attorney General, Pam Bondy, to pause all actions relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act so that she can issue new enforcement guidance that prioritizes US “interests”, “economic competitiveness” and the “efficient” use of law enforcement resources. According to Trump, “excessive” and “unpredictable” enforcement of the FCPA disadvantages US companies by prohibiting them from “engaging in practices common among international competitors, creating an uneven playing field.” This claim starkly contrasts the US government’s role in the introduction of the OECD’s Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, which the US business lobby first argued in the 1970s was necessary to ensure a level playing for businesses operating globally. Using moral regulation theory and a global systems perspective, which links anti-corruptionism with transnational capitalist class formation, this presentation explores what Trump’s executive order means for the global anti-corruption movement. We argue his position only appears to contradict previous administrations if we subscribe to the belief that eradicating corruption was the OECD’s Convention and FCPA’s goal, as opposed to seeing them as part of an overall effort to advance corporate interests on a global scale.

Authors

• Steven Bittle, University of Ottawa

• John Frauley, University of Ottawa