"Take something like bribing officials in developing countries to get contracts. European companies are far more likely to engage in such behavior than American ones."

It's legal for European companies to bribe foreign governments to get contracts. The Europeans don't consider their laws to apply outside their borders, so their companies can comply with local law.

The USA has the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that punishes US citizens or companies with criminal penalties on return to the USA for ordinary business practices in foreign lands. An ambition to clean up foreign corruption keeps US companies out of some countries.