Anti-Bribery Law’s Pause Is a Gift to the Corrupt: Editorial

The White House claims American companies are losing business abroad because US law prohibits them from paying bribes. That’s just one of the fictions underpinning its ill-advised decision last month to pause enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a move that threatens to unravel decades of progress in global anti-corruption efforts.

The administration argues that the FCPA has been “stretched beyond proper bounds” and “abused in a manner that harms the interests of the United States.” One can argue about the wisdom or propriety of any particular corruption probe. But on balance, this sentiment gets things backward: The law ...