Baxter International Inc., the world's largest medical supplies company, agreed today to the stiffest punishments the Government has ever meted out to an American business for cooperating with Arab countries in their longstanding economic boycott of Israel.

But experts say the outcome of the three-year investigation may only serve to underscore how difficult it has been to enforce the Federal laws that forbid American companies to honor economic boycotts that the United States does not sanction.

The Illinois House just joined the state’s senate in unanimously passing a  bill that would prevent the state’s pension fund from investing in companies that boycott Israel. Gov. Bruce Rauner has pledged to sign the historic “anti-BDS” bill.