To its fans, it’s an undeniable force for good in a corrupt world, a groundbreaking anti-bribery statute that has brought powerful businessmen to heel for secretly paying off foreign government officials to win contracts abroad.

To detractors, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act unfairly hobbles American companies while foreign rivals not so encumbered swoop in.

On Monday, President Donald Trump took a side.

“It sounds good on paper but in practicality, it’s a disaster,” Trump said while signing an executive order freezing enforcement of the law. “It’s going to mean a lot more business for America.”

The consequences could be dramatic, depending on Trump’s next move.

If he halts many prosecutions, essentially defanging the law, it could help U.S. businesses win deals abroad. But it also could tarnish America’s image, allow corrupt autocrats ruling over impoverished people to get even richer and lead France, Britain, Japan and other wealthy countries to weaken their own anti-bribery laws so their companies can make payments, too.

“We are facing a Wild West situation,” said Mark Pieth, a criminal law professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland and anti-bribery law expert. “It will be everyone against everyone.”

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, or FCPA, prohibits people or companies operating in the U.S. from giving money or gifts to foreign officials to win or retain deals in those countries. The law doesn’t require that the bribe is actually paid, but only offered.

The law has been used hundreds of times in the past decade to stop bribes to win deals, leading to massive settlement payments from multinationals like Goldman Sachs, Germany’s Siemens and the Swiss commodities trader Glencore.