K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Mergers mandate: The Trump DOJ’s Antitrust Division implements 2023 merger guidelines
THE LOWDOWN:
The Trump FTC announced it will continue to use the 2023 joint merger guidelines between it and the DOJ Antitrust Division;
FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson told the Reporter that “stability is important for enforcement agencies and the business community;
A person close to the Trump administration told the Reporter that “Big Tech can attempt to suck up to Trump, it simply is not working.”
Business in America got stronger on Tuesday when the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced it is continuing to implement the 2023 merger guidelines under President Donald Trump.
These merger guidelines struck in 2023 between the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) and DOJ’s joint merger will continue to serve as the backbone of the government’s merger review process.
FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson told the Reporter that he told the FTC staff “that the 2023 FTC and DOJ’s joint 2023 Merger Guidelines are in effect and will serve as the framework for our agency’s merger-review analysis.”
“These guidelines build on previous guidelines and many decades of case law,” Ferguson said. “That stability is important for enforcement agencies and the business community."
A Fortune 100 tech executive told the Reporter that, despite “Big Tech’s efforts to pretend otherwise, it is clear that the Trump administration is serious about enforcement.”
“This is great news for the American economy,” the tech executive said. “And it’s important that enforcers and regulators in the states and abroad take note, and not fall prey to Big Tech’s propaganda that the federal government is backing down.”
Additionally, the FTC’s decision to maintain the guidance on mergers is already seeing approval from those close to the Trump administration.
“Donald Trump has been a warrior on antitrust enforcement and reform,” a person close to the Trump administration told the Reporter. “His vice president is populist on antitrust, his FTC Chairman is populist on antitrust, and his head of DOJ Antitrust is a populist on antitrust.”
“Big Tech can attempt to suck up to Trump, it simply is not working,” the person added.
The DOJ declined to comment.
NOTE: FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson will sit down for his first public interview next Monday with the Washington Reporter. Sign up HERE before our limited number of tickets are gone.
