I don't think this was reference to that particular rule. It was reference to reputation American businesses have and reputation "American ideology" have - that they consider more powerful people taking advantage of weaker one perfectly fine.

That is the reputation.

Actually, that's close to what it was saying:

"The American Rule" is a reference to a norm in law that your opponent pays for their own legal fees, and you pay for yours. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rule_(attorney%27s_...

Compare this internationally:

• The English rule is used, under which the losing party pays the prevailing party's attorneys' fees.

So the American rule is that each party bear their own costs of litigation.

Contracts allow parties to fee shift. Although the article equates fee splitting as the American rule, there's technically no such rule for transactions, but it does represent the general American sentiment on the subject, which is that parties should bear their own costs. Requiring the weaker party in a transaction to shoulder the financial load of a dominant party may be a common capitalistic practice, but it's not an American ideal.