The Red Tape of US Market Entry Is Manageable

This article is part 4 of our series on the ten most important facts about US market entry. Government regulation puts many non-American companies off expanding into the USA. In reality, it is far less complicated than most people assume. We show you why taking your business to the US market is well worth it.

There is a lot of information out there on government regulation in the USA, and some of it is contradictory. Here we walk you through the rules that matter most.

1Government regulation in the USA: what the facts say

Too many European entrepreneurs still believe that expanding into the States means wading through too many government regulations. If that were true, the number of foreign companies in the USA would be falling. It is doing the opposite. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis survey published July 10, 2026, majority foreign-owned US subsidiaries employed 8.57 million people in the USA in 2024, or 6.1 percent of all private-sector employment in America. At the end of 2025, the stock of foreign direct investment stood at $5.864 trillion, up $266 billion on the previous year. Find out more in our overview of foreign direct investment in the USA.

Then there is the direction regulation itself is taking. Executive Order 14192, "Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation", signed on January 31, 2025, once again puts federal agencies under a reduction rule: for every new regulation, at least ten existing ones are to be repealed, and the net cost of new regulation is to be below zero for the fiscal year. A similar rule, then designed as two-for-one, was already in place from 2017. On top of that, Executive Order 14270 of April 9, 2025 requires energy regulations to carry an expiry date and an explicit fresh justification.

For you as a small or mid-sized business, the practical lesson here is less the number of repealed rules than who is in charge: by far most of the rules your business actually has to follow do not come from the federal government at all, but from the state where you operate. Business registration, sales tax, employment law, professional licensing and environmental requirements are state law. Choose your location and you choose your regulatory framework along with it; see Which US state is the best location.

2What US regulation means for you

Government regulation should not stop you from expanding into the USA, for at least three reasons. First, the number of foreign companies in the States keeps growing. Second, there are fewer federal regulations for businesses of every size today than ever before. And third, the US economy is extremely strong. US consumer confidence is high, and business confidence in the US economy keeps rising. For these and many other reasons, the USA is a highly lucrative market for European and international companies.

You will find all ten facts in the series in our US market entry hub; good next reads are Setting up a US company is quick and easy and The USA offers a high degree of legal certainty.

Data sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Activities of U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Multinational Enterprises 2024 (published July 10, 2026) and Direct Investment Position Data (data year 2025); Federal Register, Executive Orders 14192 and 14270.