The recent intervention by U.S. lawmakers in Korea’s investigation of Coupang has been framed as a defense of fair trade and American enterprise. In reality, it reveals a deeper flaw in political reasoning, one that conflates lawful regulation with discrimination, and corporate nationality with immunity from accountability. What is being sold as principle increasingly looks like pretext. At the center of the controversy are claims by several Republican members of Congress that Korea’s actions amount to “unfair treatment” or even “state-sponsored hostility” toward U.S. interests. Rep. Darrell Issa has characterized the investigation as discriminatory, while others have warned that Korea will “pay a price” for scrutinizing the company. Such rhetoric rests on a fundamental error. Regulatory enforcement in response to alleged misconduct, particularly involving large-scale data breaches and corporate governance failures, is not a trade barrier. It is a core function of a sovereign government. To argue otherwise implies that multinational corporations should be exempt from lo