The federal government categorically refuses to recognize an economic extortion defense to liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), even while it recognizes an FCPA defense based on physical extortion. The distinction is unsupported by law and policy and must change, particularly in view of the recent passage of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) and the growing power of autocrats to destroy U.S. businesses through economic as well as physical extortion.