[anonunivgrad]

That’s not true. A US court can order you to go to another country, retrieve documents, and bring them back to the US, even if you doing so is in violation of that other country’s laws. This is more reasonable than you might think, because otherwise companies and individuals could hide all of their incriminating data in such ways and evade accountability under US law.

Further, being involved in any violation of or conspiracy to violate American law is a crime, even if you never actually step foot in the US. Companies can be sued in US courts for actions they took overseas. None of this is particular to American law, the same is true in any advanced legal system. American law just has particular significance because of American economic preeminence. Some of the most vexing legal issues, both theoretical and practical, surround this cross-border application of law. And I guarantee you wouldn’t like the result if countries took a strictly physical, territorial approach to their legal authority.