Good morning. The Justice Department has backed off from some foreign corruption cases while plowing ahead with others, reports Richard Vanderford for Risk Journal, leaving even observers working for the Trump administration guessing how its policy on the cases might shake out.

• Trump’s stance: Trump in February issued an executive order pumping the brakes on enforcing the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a plank in recent years of U.S. white collar enforcement that has led to multiple nine- and 10-figure settlements by companies. 
   
• Moves to review: Trump said prosecutors had been enforcing the law in an “overexpansive and unpredictable” way, and mandated a review, aimed at producing new enforcement guidelines, that is expected to be completed by August. 
   
• Effect on cases: Meanwhile, cases against some individual defendants have been dropped, while others have been allowed to proceed, creating confusion around the law even within the DOJ.
   
• Consequences: “It’s very confusing,” said Paul Tuchmann, a partner at law firm Wiggin and Dana who previously worked as an anticorruption prosecutor. Trump has shown “strong hostility” to the FCPA, but predicting how the Justice Department might land on the law isn’t easy, Tuchmann said.

At the WSJ CCO Council Summit in London on May 7 attendees will hear about the most significant policy changes under the Trump administration from Jonathan Kewley, who co-chairs the global tech group at law firm Clifford Chance and is a recognized expert in AI, cybersecurity and data.

They will also hear from John Smith, co-head of law firm Morrison & Foerster’s national security practice and a former director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the primary U.S. sanctions enforcement body.

Federal Reserve, FDIC pull statements on crypto.

The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have withdrawn several statements regarding banks’ crypto-related activities in an effort to support innovation and clarify current policies.

Two joint statements from 2023 on liquidity and other risks regarding banks’ crypto-related activities were pulled on Thursday, the FDIC said. The move aims to clarify that banking organizations may engage in crypto activities so long as they are consistent with current laws and regulations. Banks may also provide products and services to people and firms engaged in crypto-related activities, the FDIC said.

The actions come as the Trump administration looks to change regulations surrounding crypto to bring the asset class further into mainstream finance.

Plaintiff firm Bernstein Litowitz looks to hire former top SEC litigator.

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, a law firm known for class-action lawsuits, has extended a job offer to Jorge Tenreiro, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who brought several lawsuits against cryptocurrency exchanges, court records show.

Tenreiro served as the SEC’s chief litigation counsel until he was transferred to a job in the agency’s information-technology office. He disclosed a contingent offer from Bernstein Litowitz in a court filing this week. The filing was intended to serve as part of his conflict-screening procedures in a class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk. Bernstein Litowitz represents the lead plaintiff in the case, the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System.

• Dutch authorities said they intend to prosecute Damen Shipyards and unnamed former directors of the Dutch shipbuilding company on charges of bribery, forgery and money laundering related to the sale of ships overseas. In a separate investigation, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service said it would also summon the company for violating sanctions imposed on Russia over the war against Ukraine.
   
• Advocacy-oriented shareholders are taking the DEI fight to Walmart’s annual shareholder meeting, according to Barron's. The retailer, however, appears to want to be excluded from the narrative as it tries to avoid offending consumers on either side of the debate.
   
• The U.S. says Chang Guang, a company with ties to China’s military, has aided Russia’s war in Ukraine and Houthi attacks against U.S. interests.
   
• Chatbots on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are empowered to engage in "romantic role-play" that can turn explicit. Some people inside Meta are concerned.
   
• George Santos, the disgraced former New York congressman who fabricated his life story to win public office, was sentenced Friday to just over seven years in prison for stealing from political donors and lying about his campaign fundraising.

Corporate giants shred outlooks over tariff uncertainty.

The CEOs of American Airlines, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and many other major U.S. companies warned that shape-shifting tariff threats make it virtually impossible to plan and are spooking consumers.

American, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Air Group told investors and analysts that leisure travel had already softened and pulled their full-year outlooks because the economic climate makes it too tough to forecast. Procter & Gamble, the maker of Pampers diapers and Tide detergent, said it was considering raising prices on some items. And auto-industry groups representing General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota sent a letter to President Trump imploring him to reconsider the 25% tariff on car parts that goes into effect May 3, because it will make buying and repairing cars and trucks more expensive.

China aims to step up policy support amid trade uncertainty.

China aims to implement more growth-supporting measures amid rising challenges from hefty U.S. tariffs.

What they intend to do: The government will seek to coordinate policy measures to support domestic economic aims amid external economic and trade struggles, state-run Xinhua News Agency said Friday, citing a readout of a meeting of the Politburo, the Chinese Communist Party’s top policymaking body. 

• Cargo Shipments From China to U.S. Slide Toward a Standstill
• Chinese Manufacturers Are Scouring the World for New Buyers
• China’s Huawei Develops New AI Chip, Seeking to Match Nvidia

• American households ended April feeling much worse about the economy than they did in March, according to a closely watched measure of consumer sentiment.
   
• Despite those gloomy feelings, overall Americans are spending even more than before, which is keeping the economy humming—for now.
   
• U.S. officials plan to conduct staggered trade negotiations using a new template that sets common terms for many of the talks, according to people familiar with the plans.
   
• China’s government has exempted some U.S. imports that the country would struggle to immediately source from elsewhere from its retaliatory tariffs, people familiar with the matter said.
   
• The U.S. and Iran approached the nuclear talks Saturday at odds over whether Tehran can continue to enrich uranium. The discussions ended with major disagreements and a pledge to meet again.
   
• Two of Israel’s regional partners, Jordan and Egypt, are confronting growing anger among their populations as the Israeli military expands its war against Hamas in Gaza and Israel’s far-right politicians float relocating Palestinians from the enclave.
   
• Russia described talks between President Vladimir Putin and President Trump’s top negotiator as “constructive and useful” even as Russia defied U.S. appeals to halt its attacks on Ukraine and a car bomb explosion in Moscow killed a senior Russian general on Friday.
   
• President Trump’s repeated economic and political threats are prompting a chunk of voters in French-speaking Quebec to put aside their provincial nationalism, a shift that could shape the outcome of Monday’s Canadian election.

• Leaders of some of the nation’s most prestigious universities have assembled a private collective to counter the Trump administration’s attacks on research funding and academic independence across higher education, according to people familiar with the effort.
   
• The Magnificent Seven drove the stock market’s bull run. Now, their bruising losses pose a new test for markets.
   
• Republicans pushed President Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending package closer to the finish line with votes earlier this month approving a budget framework. But as lawmakers return to work this week, hard intraparty fights remain in writing and ironing out the multitrillion-dollar package.
   
• Eleven people were killed and at least 20 others injured when a man drove through a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver, authorities said. A 30-year-old from Vancouver was arrested at the scene.
   
• Across the world, from Australia to Canada to the U.K., left-leaning leaders and political parties were in the doldrums. Then came Trump 2.0.

Follow us on X at @WSJRisk. Send tips to our reporters Mengqi Sun at mengqi.sun@wsj.com and Richard Vanderford at richard.vanderford@wsj.com.

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