Trump frozen the law hit by Tesla suppliers

The Air Conservation Law whose chairman of the implementation Donald Trump There is suspended He used it before Ministry of Justice and financial regulators to conquer a settlement in the total amount of more than $ 1.5 billion from companies that are the main suppliers for TeslaDIV of electric vehicles operated by Trump’s ally Elon musk.

And Trump in his executive government order On Monday, pausing a law forbidding foreign officials says: “US national security depends in a significant part” on the US and its companies “to acquire strategic business advantages in critical minerals, ports of deep water or other key infrastructure or property.”

Tesla and other electric vehicles companies rely on critical minerals that they have mostly received abroad to make batteries.

Critical minerals and ports with deep waters were the only two specific advantages mentioned by name, entitled “Pause Foreign Corrupted Practice Law The implementation of further American economic and national security. “

CNBC asked the White House, Tesla and Musk, whether a technologically billionaire played any role in encouraging a line or involving languages ​​about critical minerals in the directive. The White House refused to comment.

In his first month in power, Trump also signed executive commands and changes in policies that could adversely affect Tesla dramatically slowing down to EV’s United States, they state Wood Mackenzie Research Company.

At the invitation of earnings in January, CFO Tesla Vaibhav Taneja warned shareholders that Trump’s tariffs can harm the profitability of the company.

Nevertheless, men’s power and influence in Trump’s white house do not have a precedent in modern politics.

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

It was relatively small, given the estimation of a net value of a male of about $ 400 billion. But it was enough to fix his place as Trump’s most prominent fan and advisor.

Now Musk is working at the White House, where it oversees a wide and controversial effort known as the Efficiency Department of the Government-reached Doge-How would it reduce the consumption of the federal government, the number of employees, regulations and agencies.

In addition to being Tesla’s executive and leading Doge, Musk controls several other companies, including the Spacex defensive performer, social media platforms X, Chatbot and generative AI developers XAI, Tunineling for a boring company and Neurotech startup neuralink.

IN Foreign Corrupted Practice Law from 1977, a crime for companies and individuals operating in the United States to bribe foreign government officials to obtain or retain business advantages.

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

But on Monday, Trump said that FCPA was “systematically being … stretching beyond the appropriate borders and abused in a way that harms the interest of the United States.”

Trump ordered Pamo Bonda Attorney General to stop, 180 days, launching any new investigations of FCPA or executive actions, unless she found that an exception should be made.

He also ordered Bondi to inspect “All existing FCPA investigations or implementing actions and taking appropriate measures … To return the appropriate boundaries to the implementation of the FCPA.”

Then, in a very unusual move, the command directs Bondi to review the past cases within the previous administration, to determine if some of the FCPA implementation actions are “inappropriate”.

If Bondi determines that they are, the command says that “rehabilitation measures” should be taken to compensate for Parties of the accused of violation.

Among these previous activities the implementation that Bondi was supposed to review, there are at least four cases involving Tesla or their branch suppliers.

None of these cases mentions behavior directly related to Tesla.

But together, they reveal a significant role that FCPA plays in regulating business practices in the critical mineral mining sector.

In May 2022, two divisions Glencore declared to be guilty and agreed to pay more than $ 1.1 billion to resolve the investigations by the hood -ai Commission for trading a commodity their violations of FCPA.

FCPA compensation associated with a 10-year Glencore Scheme and Branch “to create and conceal corrupt payments and bribes through mediator in favor of foreign officials in several countries,” an impression said at the time.

Glencore is the main supplier of the cobalt, a metal used to make lithium batteries.

Tesla got a cobalt from Glencore for his EV batteries. And 2021. Tesla talked about buying a stake in Glencore, Wall Street Journal reported.

As part of the guilt for the guilt of May 2022, Glencore “agreed to retain an independent monitor for three years compliance,” the impression said at that time.

In March 2023. The global mining giant Rio Tinto paid a relatively small sentence, $ 15 million, to settle the FCPA costs according to Securities They stem from the payment of the counselor made in Guinea.

Tesla has agreed to buy 75,000 metric tons of nickel from the Rio Tinto joint mining venture in the Upper Middle West.

Six months after the Rio Tinto settlement, a manufacturer of special chemicals in North Carolina Albemarle – The biggest manufacturer lithium In the world – agreed to pay more than $ 218 million to resolve the Investigation of the DOJ -AI Sec.

In this case, FCPA violations They were associated with Albemarle’s participation in the schemes of the myth of the Government officials in several foreign countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

The three-year non-confidential agreement relating to this settlement with the DOJ remains in force for Albermarle, which Teslica provides lithium.

In 2018, Panasonic airline Corp., American division Panasonic corpus., Agreed to pay more than $ 137 million criminal penalties to resolve the cost of violating accounting provisions of FCPA.

In a related procedure, Panasonic agreed to pay about $ 143 million in deviations from the SEC after the agency filed an interruption and quitting order.

SEC said that Panasonic airlines “offered a lucrative advisory position to the Government official in the state-owned airline to encourage an official to help PAC in obtaining and retention of business from the airline.”

“At the time when he orchestrated the bribery scheme, Pac was negotiating two agreements with an airplane worth more than $ 700 million,” Sec said.

Panasonic Corp. He makes batteries for Tesla, and two companies share a factory in Nevada.