Trump froze a law that hit Tesla suppliers

Anti -corner law, whose president of the enforcement Donald Trump has suspended was previously used by Department of Justice and financial bodies to win settlements with a total value of over $ 1.5 billion from companies that are the main suppliers TeslaElectric vehicle giant led by Trump's ally Elon Musk.

And Trump in his director order On Monday, stopping the law prohibiting the bribery of foreign officials says: “American National Security depends to a large part” of the United States and its companies “gaining strategic business benefits, whether in critical minerals, deep -sea ports or other key infrastructures or assets.”

Tesla and other companies with electric vehicles rely on critical minerals, mainly abroad, to create batteries.

Critical minerals and deep ports were the only two specific advantages mentioned in order, entitled “Stop Act on foreign corruption practices Enforcement of further American economic and national security. “

CNBC asked the White House, Tesla and Musk, or a billionaire of technology played any role in insisting on order or enabling a language with critical minerals in the directive. The White House refused to comment.

In his first month of office, Trump also signed executive orders and changes in policy that could negatively affect Tesla, dramatically slowing down EV in the United States Research company Wood Mackenzie.

In January in January with Tesla, Vaibhav Tanaa's earnings, he warned the shareholders that Trump's tariffs could harm the company's profitability.

Nevertheless, the power and influence of musk in the White House of Trump do not have a precedent in contemporary politics.

Musk, the richest person in the world, spent almost $ 300 million to help Trump win the presidential election in 2024.

It was relatively little, taking into account the estimated net value of Musk at about $ 400 billion. But it was enough to strengthen his place as the most outstanding supporter and adviser to Trump.

Now Musk is working in a White House, where he supervises extensive and controversial efforts known as the Department of the Government-the Doga Doge-on the purpose of reducing the expenditure of the federal government, the number of employees, regulations and agencies.

In addition to the fact that he is the general director of Tesla and the leading Doge, Musk controls several other companies, including the SpaceX defense contractor, the Social Media Platform X, Chatbot and generative developers AI XAI, Tuneling Venture The Boring Company and Startup Neurotech Neuralink.

. Act on foreign corruption practices Of 1977, a crime for companies and people operating in the United States is to bribe foreign state officials to obtain or maintain business benefits.

FCPA has long been considered a golden standard for anti -corruption laws, and its versions have been adopted by countries around the world.

But on Monday, Trump said that FCPA “was systematically … stretched beyond the proper borders and used in a way that harms the interests of the United States.”

Trump ordered the Prosecutor General Pam Bondi for 180 days of initiation of all new investigations in the FCPA case or enforcement activities, unless she determined that an exception should be made.

He also ordered the Bondi review of “all existing FCPA investigations or enforcement activities and taking appropriate actions … Restoring the proper limits of FCPA enforcement.”

Then, in a highly unusual move, the order is directed by Bondi to review past matters based on previous administrations, in order to determine whether any FCPA enforcement activities were “inappropriate”.

If Bondi turns out that yes, the order says that “repair means” should be taken to compensate for the parties responsible for the violations.

Of these previous enforcement activities, Bondi is aimed at reviewing, there are at least four cases in which Tesla suppliers or their subsidiaries.

None of these cases mentions proceedings directly related to Tesla.

To sum up, they reveal a significant role that FCPA plays in the regulation of business practices in the critical mining sector.

In May 2022, two branches of a multinational trade and mining company Glencore He pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $ 1.1 billion To solve the investigations carried out by the State and Trade Commission for Futures Goods Their FCPA violations.

FCPA fees related to the decaded Glencore program and subsidiaries “to make corrupt payments and bribes by intermediaries to foreign officials in many countries,” said

Glencore is the main supplier of cobalt, metal used to produce lithium-ion batteries.

Tesla has acquired a cobalt for EV batteries from Glencore. In 2021, Tesla discussed the purchase of a participation in Glencore, Wall Street Journal Reported.

As part of the guilty allegation of May 2022, Glencore “agreed to keep an independent compliance monitor for three years,” noted at the time.

In March 2023, the global mining giant Rio Tinto paid a relatively small fine, $ 15 million, for Set up FCPA loads By Securities and stock exchanges committee resulting from payments made to a consultant in Guinea.

Tesla has He agreed to buy 75,000 metric tons of nickel from the Rio Tinto mining undertaking in the upper central west.

Six months after the Rio Tinto settlement, northern Karolina, a special producer of chemicals Albemarle – the largest manufacturer lithium in the world – he agreed to pay over $ 218 million for the termination of investigations in the case and Sec.

In this case FCPA violations They were associated with Albemarle's involvement in paying bribes in state officials in many foreign countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

The three -year misunderstanding agreement related to this settlement with the NAGA is valid in the case of Albermarle, which provides Little Tesla.

In 2018 Panasonic Avionics Corp., American division Panasonic Corp., zgodził się zapłacić karę karną ponad 137 milionów dolarów w celu rozwiązania zarzutów za naruszenie przepisów księgowych FCPA.

In the related proceedings, Panasonic agreed to pay about $ 143 million of the abolition of SEC after the agency has stopped and resignation.

Sec said that Panasonic Avionika “offered a lucrative consulting position to a state official in a state airline to make a official to help PAC in obtaining and stopping activities from the airlines.”

“At a time when he organized the bribe program, Pac negotiated two contracts with an airline worth over $ 700 million,” said SEC.

Panasonic Corp. It produces batteries for Tesla, and both companies divide the factory in Nevada.