Trump antitrust cop has a message for companies: ‘We’re going to be very serious’ about illegal competition

Thu, May 15, 2025, 1:00 AM 4 min read

One of President Trump’s apical antitrust cops has a connection for US companies: The caller medication is going to aggressively prosecute amerciable competition, particularly successful industries that importantly interaction the pocketbooks of mean Americans.

“There was, I think, an presumption that the Trump medication was going to beryllium similar the Bush administration,” the US Justice Department’s main antitrust part deputy, Roger Alford, said during a Tuesday sheet treatment astatine George Washington Law School.

“I deliberation the satellite knows we’re going to beryllium precise superior astir antitrust enforcement."

The attack is already evident successful a fig of antitrust enforcement cases targeting Big Tech arsenic national prosecutors proceed with antitrust litigation against Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Apple (APPL), and Meta (META).

The authorities has been palmy successful arguing that Google illegally monopolized the wide hunt motor marketplace and used amerciable tactics to artifact contention successful markets wherever online advertisements are bought and sold.

The Trump medication is presently asking judges to approve a breakup of Google's empire to remedy the monopoly behaviour successful those cases.

The FTC is besides asking for D.C. national territory tribunal Judge James Boasberg successful a abstracted antitrust proceedings to unit Meta (META) to merchantability disconnected Instagram arsenic good arsenic its messaging service, WhatsApp.

Many of these cases were started during the archetypal Trump administration, wherever Alford besides worked. He said this week that the DOJ has evolved its enforcement attack since helium past held a station with the section successful 2017.

In 2017, helium said, prevailing reasoning was that the section didn’t person the workforce to prosecute each lawsuit that its instrumentality enforcers thought they should, truthful cases were fto spell that should person been challenged, particularly those wherever the section would beryllium up against unlimited resources.

“Knowing determination is nary bounds to what these companies are consenting to spend,” helium said, referring to the exertion giants, “you’re precise strategical with what cases you’re going to bring.”

“You tin inactive out-lawyer them.”

Outlawyering its hostile is however the section prevailed doubly implicit Google, Alford said.

In summation to going aft atrocious actors, Alford said the DOJ is besides moving to forestall harmful monopoly behaviour earlier it happens.

One mode is by adopting much flexible merger reappraisal standards. Rather than a little tolerant attack that demands that companies contiguous “clean mergers” for reappraisal — those that person nary important antitrust oregon regulatory concerns and necessitate nary conditions, remedies, oregon divestitures — the medication believes it tin enactment retired consent decrees with merging parties that enactment antitrust concerns astatine bay.