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ARTICLE · 08 OCTOBER 2025

Antitrust Agency Insights: Developments At The U.S. Antitrust Enforcement Agencies — Third Quarter 2025

Arnold & Porter
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For much of 2023 and 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC or the Commission) sought to reshape enforcement around non-compete agreements through an ambitious rulemaking effort.

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law
Sonia Kuester Pfaffenroth
Sonia Kuester Pfaffenroth
Matthew Tabas
Matthew Tabas
Melvin Kenney, III
Melvin Kenney, III
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Letter From the Editors

FTC Non-Compete Developments: From Broad Ban to Targeted Enforcement

I. Background

For much of 2023 and 2024, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC or the Commission) sought to reshape enforcement around non-compete agreements through an ambitious rulemaking effort. In April 2024, the FTC finalized its Non-Compete Clause Rule, which broadly declared that it was an unfair method of competition for employers to enter into or enforce most non-compete agreements with workers. As we discussed in Arnold & Porter's Antitrust Agency Insights: Third Quarter 2024, the Commission justified this step by claiming that non-competes "negatively affect competitive conditions in labor markets," "lead to increased market concentration," and suppress wages.

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