President Trump signed a resolution rolling back a rule requiring energy companies to disclose payments to foreign governments aimed at curbing bribery.

Put forth by Republicans Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma in late January, the joint resolution under the Congressional Review Act nullifies the Securities and Exchange Commission resource extraction rule, which was finalized in June. Trump touted the "very important signing" as a pro-jobs maneuver, telling reporters in the Oval Office that "a lot of people [are] going back to work now."

The legislation, House Joint Resolution 41, scraps regulation mandated under section 1504 of Dodd-Frank in 2010. It swept quickly through both houses of Congress earlier this year, passing the House in a 235-187 vote and the Senate 52-47.

"This is a big signing, very important signing," the president said on Tuesday. "This is one of many that we've signed and we have many more left."

Trump said his administration is "bringing back jobs big league" at the "plant level" and at the "mine level" and cited energy jobs as well.

He also touted the stock market. U.S. equities markets have rallied since his election and got a renewed boost of confidence last week when he promised a two to three-week timeframe on tax reform.

"You see what's going on with the stock market. They know that we know what we're doing so it's going up," he said.

The rule, which took effect in September 2016 and required compliance by September 2018, would have required extraction companies -- oil and gas, miners -- traded publicly in the U.S. to disclose payments to foreign governments. Similar rules have been enacted in the U.K., France, Norway and Canada.

From the outset, the rule widely was opposed by American oil and gas companies, which argued it would put them at a disadvantage against private companies and companies not traded publicly in the United States. They said compliance would cost them millions of dollars. (SEC estimated compliance could cost $55 million to $575 million for the more than 400 companies affected.)

The American Petroleum Institute successfully sued to overturn an original version of the rule in 2012, forcing an SEC rewrite. The lobbying group's membership includes ExxonMobil (XOM) - Get Report , Chevron (CVX) - Get Report , Phillips 66 (PSX) - Get Report , ConocoPhillips (COP) - Get Report and Apache (APA) - Get Report .

Nonprofit group Oxfam America subsequently sued the SEC over its delay in finalizing the rule.

Huizenga, who appeared alongside Trump in the Oval office at the moment of the signing, said in a statement that the resolution "removes a burdensome regulation that puts U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage on the global stage."

Isabel Munilla, senior policy adviser for extractive industries at Oxfam America, slammed Trump's signing of the bill in a statement as a maneuver aimed at making it "easier to get away with corruption."

"President Trump is turning his back on people all around the world who have clamored for American leadership to stand up for democratic values, transparency and good governance. Signing this bill is a stain on America's reputation around the world," she said.

Huizenga noted the legislation instructs the SEC to go back to the drawing board yet again on the rule to create one that "doesn't negatively impact American job creators and American workers."

Six Republican senators -- Bob Corker, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Johnny Isakson and Todd Young -- in a February 2 letter to acting SEC Chairman Michael Piwowar explaining their opposition to the rule and encouraging it to consider "anti-competitiveness concerns" when it revisits the regulation for a rewrite.

An SEC spokesman declined to comment on the matter.