The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) managed to stall some major corporate mergers on anti-trust grounds. Don’t be shocked if the trend continues even if Donald Trump wins back the White House in November.
The FTC’s chairwoman Lina Khan is popular among some very influential Republicans — first and foremost, vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. “A lot of my Republican colleagues look at Lina Khan … and they say, ‘well Lina Khan is sort of engaged in some sort of fundamental evil thing,'” the Ohio senator revealed in February. “And I guess I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job.
“[T]he fundamental question to me is how do we build a competitive marketplace, that is pro-innovation, pro-competition, that allows consumers to have the right choices and isn’t just so obsessed on pricing power within the market that it ignores all the other things that really matter,” Vance said. Traditional Republicans, the Chamber of Commerce and many on Wall Street don’t agree on either the FTC’s direction under Khan or Trump choosing Vance to be his VP.
Vance showed he’s willing to cross the aisle to fix problems. In March 2023, Vance proposed new regulations for trains that carry hazardous materials, following the disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. Vance’s colleague, Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown, co-sponsored the bill, which called for higher hazmat accident fines on the hedge funds that own and operate the rails.
Vance & Khan No Fans of Big Mergers & Acquisitions
Earlier this year, the FTC proposed the first major overhaul of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. Proposed changes “will substantially increase the amount of information, resources and time required to complete an HSR filing,” according to the the FTC.
The HSR rule isn’t finalized yet as of July 17. Should the GOP take control of Congress and the White House, there’s a chance the reg — and several other federal rules yet to go into effect — could be nullified using the Congressional Review Act. The GOP axed several regs in January 2017 in this manner.
Vance co-sponsored a bill to eliminate tax exemptions for big companies that complete mergers. The VP hopeful argues large mergers harm smaller businesses and consumers.
