The US government has decided to keep strict guidelines for reviewing proposed corporate mergers, which were implemented by the Biden administration. The decision was made public in a Department of Justice memo and a social media post by Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson.
The existing guidelines, adopted in 2023, include over a dozen criteria that the FTC and DOJ use to determine whether to block a merger. These criteria aim to prevent mergers that could eliminate substantial competition between firms or create market structures that foreclose competition.
In a statement, Ferguson said stability is important for enforcement agencies, adding that rewriting guidelines after every election would be expensive and time-consuming. He also emphasized the importance of limited resources for the FTC, highlighting the potential risks of destabilizing the agency with frequent changes to guidelines.
The Trump administration’s decision is seen as a victory for those who oppose corporate consolidation, particularly Vice President JD Vance, who has expressed common ground with Biden’s former FTC chair Lina Khan. In contrast, Wall Street had been hoping for a loosened framework for evaluating proposed mergers under the new administration.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/18/trump-corporate-merger-guidelines-biden.html