By: NPR
July 9, 2021
President Biden unveiled a new plan on Friday taking aim at powerful industries where a handful of players have so much market clout that they can drive up prices, depress wages and make it hard for small companies to break in.
“We know we’ve got a problem, a major problem. We’ve also got an incredible opportunity,” Biden said in remarks before signing the order.
“The executive order I’m soon going to be signing commits the federal government to full and aggressive enforcement of antitrust laws. No more tolerance for abusive actions by monopolies.”
His executive order on competition contains directives for a dozen government agencies to take 72 measures — some big, some small — to shake up key markets for consumers, workers, farmers and small businesses, White House officials told NPR. They spoke on the condition of anonymity ahead of Biden’s announcement.
The White House is just getting started on what it hopes will be a new era of enforcement of antitrust laws in which mergers are challenged more often and unfair practices are cracked down on, the officials said.