America’s legal forays against foreign firms ...

stance. As a result, critics who decry what they call America’s financial imperialism are looking for ways to limit its reach.

Policymakers and business figures in Europe are peeved at having to heed American laws, and they suspect other motives. “European companies are increasingly impacted by the extraterritoriality of US sanctions,” says Pierre Gattaz, head of Businesseurope, the European Union’s main employer federation. “Moreover, these are increasingly instrumentalised to promote economic interests,” he adds. There are instances where America’s long legal reach may have given an edge to its own firms over foreign rivals, as in the case of General Electric’s purchase of Alstom of France in 2014 (see article). Ever mindful of diplomatic norms, President Donald Trump has linked Ms Meng’s legal fate to the prospects of America getting a good deal in trade talks with China.

It is America’s central role in the global economy that gives it the exorbitant privilege of imposing its way in boardrooms across the world. Some forms of sanctions merely ban companies trading in embargoed countries from selling to America. Other programmes, notably the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which battles against corporate graft, can result in prosecutions in criminal courts.

Several elements tie together America’s various legal forays abroad. The first is their creeping extraterritoriality. American law starts with a presumption against application of its statutes beyond its borders. But prosecutors have wide authority over how the laws are interpreted. They have adopted an ever-moreexpansive interpretation of who is subject to American law, lawyers say.

A banking transaction that ultimately passes through New York—as many do, given the centrality of American dollars to global trade— can give prosecutors a toehold to inspect it. If two executives outside America use Google’s Gmail to communicate about a bribe, say, American prosecutors can claim that the Americanness of the email provider can make it their business.