The FTC's Biden-Era Merger Standards to Continue Under Chairman Ferguson
President Trump's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman, Andrew Ferguson, is maintaining the stricter merger review standards implemented during the Biden administration. These guidelines expand the criteria for antitrust scrutiny and consider labor market impacts of mergers.
Ferguson informed FTC staff that the Biden-era guidelines will serve as the framework for merger analysis. The guidelines depart from previous approaches by omitting consumer welfare as the primary review standard.
The new guidelines also focus on common ownership and potential competition effects among technology platforms. This "recalibration of antitrust" reflects bipartisan support for increased enforcement, initially seen during Trump's first term.
Despite the perceived shift under Trump, antitrust enforcement remains active. From 2017 to 2019, the DOJ and FTC filed 118 merger challenges, surpassing the 108 filed from 2021 to 2023 under Biden. Notably, Biden achieved a record 50 challenges in fiscal 2022.
The Trump administration's continued antitrust focus is evident in the Justice Department's lawsuit against Hewlett Packard (HPE) and Juniper Networks (JNPR). The DOJ argues that the $14 billion merger would reduce competition in enterprise wireless networking.
HPE and Juniper claim the DOJ's analysis is flawed and that the merger would enhance innovation and consumer choice.