Trump urged to step up antitrust crackdown and – Business News
Dozens of business teams requested President Trump to double down on an antitrust crackdown he pitched during his 2024 marketing campaign – and to “resist pressures” to go mushy on Google, Ticketmaster and different alleged monopolists.
The teams praised Trump for appointing hawkish antitrust leaders — reminiscent of Justice Department antitrust chief Gail Slater, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson and FTC commissioner Mark Meador — and requested Trump in a Monday letter to “press forward with the full slate of pending cases currently being advanced by the FTC and DOJ” fairly than search settlements.
“We urge you to build on the foundation already established and to resist pressures that would return federal antitrust enforcement to a more hands-off approach, the very approach that allowed unchecked market power to take root,” the teams mentioned within the letter completely obtained by The Post.
President Trump touted a sturdy antitrust effort during his 2024 presidential marketing campaign. AP
The White House didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
For weeks, sources close to the scenario have described simmering tensions between two camps within Trumpworld – those that need to press forward with main circumstances in opposition to the likes of Google and Ticketmaster, and others burrowed into the administration pushing an method that’s more pleasant to huge business.
Those tensions got here to a head in July, when the Justice Department settled its bid to block Hewlett Packard’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks regardless of Slater’s sturdy objections. Rumors swirled that MAGA-aligned lobbyists had leaned on their White House connections to kill the case.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai attended a latest dinner on the White House with different tech CEOs. AP
Shortly after the settlement, two of Slater’s high aides – Roger Alford and William Rinner – have been abruptly fired in a transfer that alarmed many within the business and legal neighborhood. Alford subsequently went scorched earth in an August speech, blasting “MAGA-in-name-only lobbyists and DOJ officials enabling them” who he claimed have been undermining Trump’s antitrust agenda.
“There is definitely a cleavage in the Republican coalition between folks who want to want to see a return to a more Bush or Obama era of antitrust and folks who are really concerned with the questions of structural power,” a source close to the scenario lately instructed The Post.
Trump’s dinner final month with Big Tech CEOs – during which Google boss Sundar Pichai thanked Trump for a “resolution” simply days after the company dodged an antitrust breakup – raised purple flags for anti-monopoly watchdogs in addition to “Little Tech” advocates who need to see smaller companies get a stage taking part in subject. Apple CEO Tim Cook was additionally in attendance.
DOJ antitrust chief Gail Slater is broadly seen as a hawk on competitors points. Bloomberg through Getty Images
The letter’s signers embody teams throughout tech, agriculture and small business, together with the influential startup accelerator Y Combinator; News Media Alliance, a commerce group that represents information retailers together with The Post; Beeper, a messaging startup that had a high-profile spat with Apple.
Other signatories embody the American Booksellers Association; the Tech Oversight Project; the National Grocers Association and dozens of small companies and regional commerce teams.
Notable conservatives additionally joined the coalition, together with Rachel Bovard of the Conservative Partnership Institute and the Bull Moose Project.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson lately took motion in opposition to Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Getty Images
“We encourage you to stand with those committed to implementing the bold vision you’ve articulated when you announced your Administration’s antitrust enforcers,” the letter added.
Attorney General Pam Bondi is anticipated to be peppered with questions on her handling of the antitrust division on Tuesday, when she testifies earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee for its annual Justice Department oversight listening to.
The DOJ and FTC every have pending actions in opposition to Ticketmaster. AP
Several main antitrust battles are nonetheless on the docket. Slater’s DOJ antitrust division has pending lawsuits in opposition to Google, Apple, Ticketmaster, Visa and others.
The Ferguson-led FTC is suing Amazon for its alleged monopoly over the online retail sector. Other pending circumstances embody a go well with filed final month in opposition to Ticketmaster looking for billions in penalties (although not antitrust expenses) and an motion in opposition to Southern Glazer, the nation’s largest alcohol distributor, for unlawful pricing.
