Antitrust Laws: Promoting Competition and Free Markets
Critically important but commonly misunderstood, antitrust laws are meant to promote competition and protect consumers. Here’s everything you need to know.
America's antitrust laws promote competition and benefit consumers.
Antitrust laws ensure competition in a free and open market economy, which is the foundation of any vibrant economy. And healthy competition among sellers in an open marketplace gives consumers the benefits of lower prices, higher quality products and services, more choices, and greater innovation.
The core of U.S. antitrust law was created by three pieces of legislation: the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, and the Clayton Antitrust Act. These laws have evolved along with the market, vigilantly guarding against anti-competitive harm that arises from abuse of dominance, bid rigging, price fixing, and customer allocation.
The Prompt: Antitrust Speeches
In light of the increasing focus on "America First antitrust" in recent speeches, we sought to gather insights from our The Prompt contributors on their interpretations and key takeaways.
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Latest Content
- The Department of Transportation Joins the Administration’s Effort to Stifle Merger ActivityExplaining new competition-related regulatory guidance from Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).Challenging Regulatory Initiatives: The Unseen Benefits of M&A in the Alcohol IndustryBy failing to pursue settlements to remedy alleged anticompetitive behavior the FTC and DOJ are costing taxpayers millions and raising questions about bias.The FTC and DOJ's changes to the merger process will hurt American businesses.More concerning is the department’s efforts to ignore evidence and tip the scales in violation of fundamental due process rights.The agencies' proposed changes to HSR forms and new merger guidelines will increase costs and government red tape for companies looking to close mergers.
