US give free to bribe for weapons

On February 10, President Donald Trump signed DECREE by which he asks the Attorney General to suspend the application of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This is the first law in modern history that prohibits the citizens of a country to bribe foreign officials.

The decree shows that the law is « one of the excessive obstacles to the American trade », and the general prosecutor is asked to « stop the initiation of new investigations or actions to apply this law ». Prosecutor General Pam Bondi will have the freedom to choose when to apply this decree. The Department of Justice is also asked to take measures in favor of those who have received « inadequate » penalties following investigations related to the violation of the mentioned law against the bribes of officials from other countries.

The bribery of foreign governments prevents America from becoming Great Again, seems to say President Donald Trump. What do the customers of the US military-industrial complex say? If the armament corresponds to the needs, the bribe will never be discovered – it is part of the unwritten rules of the business and is the lubricant of relations between states. When the purchases are inappropriate (already, Elon Musk draws spruce on his cake and says that the F-35 planes are unsuccessful and outdated, that the future is the war of drones; Romania has signed with the US a protocol for F-35 aircraft, of which 32 « invisible » devices should be bought), then we have a SKODA scenario: Investigation, an suicide, a Czechoslovak peacock mite, the transformation of the accused in accusers, until it reaches a level too high and everything ends.

An article published by Responsible Statecraft It shows that the suspension of the application of this law risks leading to a situation similar to that of the 1970s, when the bribery of foreign officials was the norm in American trade with weapons. The word of order at this time in Europe is the armament – the US also says, says the European leaders, the reports of Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta say by the European Commission to revitalize the « European project ». Regardless of whether the governments will be pro-EU technocrats or pro-resume populist, the armament will be the big business and the next years will be of a state capitalism focused on defense. And the US gives free to bribe.

In 1975-1976, with the reforms after the Watergate scandal, a US Senate Commission exhibited a multitude of foreign official corruption by US oil and aerospace companies. The most active company in the corruption of governments was Lockheed Martin, who did in Italy, Japan, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Indonesia, Mexico and Colombia, to receive civil and military contracts for its planes.

The disclosures made then led to the drafting of the law mentioned at the beginning, which was approved in 1977.

The consequences were very strong in Japan, where Prime Minister Kakui Tanaka was arrested, convicted of taking bribes. It was the first time a Japanese prime minister was arrested and was considered the biggest scandal in the country's post -war history.

Senator Frank Church, the initiator of the law, said that the problem is more serious than corruption. « It is not enough to come and say that this is how business is done. It is time to treat this issue as a serious foreign policy issue. ” He showed that in this way the democratic alloy regimes can be destabilized and can be reached close to dictatorial regimes, for financial reasons rather than for security interests.

Now, President Trump wants to suspend the application of this law, considering that it is to the detriment of US and American security companies.

But there is no evidence that this law has caused damage to the American military industry. The US is the largest weapon exporter in the world and occupy this position for at least 30 years. With all the law that prohibits the bribery of foreigners, the US military industry sold weapons worth $ 145 billion in 2024.

President Trump said in the election campaign that he wants to « stop the war profiteers and put America in the first place. » If so, then it is not the time for Trump to give free to foreign governments to buy weapons, given that the institution of bribe works very well in American companies. In October 2024, Raytheon (now called RTX) had to pay fines of about $ 1 billion because he has frauduted the Pentagon and raped the law that banks abroad. He bribed Qatar officials, in search of large contracts.

In addition, the law should even be reinforced, to discourage the bribery of American officials by foreigners. Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking bribes, extort of funds, obstruction of justice and because he acted as a foreign agent without registering, favoring Egypt and Qatar. Another Democratic Senator Henry Cuellar was accused of receiving bribes to influence American foreign policy decisions.

American weapons trade would need a wide reform if President Trump wanted to stop wars. The law governing US weapons trade was adopted in 1976, in another world compared to today's. The law seems to work well, if we are to think about how often the Congress vote is requested to approve sales of weapons in one state or another-this vote is often postponed, as a pressure lever on that state, to obtain various reorientations of foreign policy and not only. Only, if the US government decides to give green light to the sale of weapons in a foreign country, the Congress can only oppose two-thirds, which is difficult. The Congress opposed the export of weapons to Saudi Arabia during the war in Yemen, but President Trump opposed then the Congress did not find the majority of two thirds.

Therefore, instead of suspending a law that prohibits the bribe of foreign governments, the US administration should take completely different measures. The problem is not the disadvantage of the military-industrial complex, but the stopping of weapons transfers that eventually undermine US security. The problem is that, in 2022, for example, weapons manufactured in the US were present in two thirds of active conflicts around the world, and at least 31 US customers were undemocratic regimes, writes responsible Statecraft. And the supply of conflicts and the support of authoritarian regimes can lead to the destabilization of entire regions important for US interests and can lead to US military intervention. If Donald Trump was to stop wars, weapons trade should be governed primarily by US security interests, not the profit of the armament industry.