More Bite, Less Bark: Merger Enforcement At The FTC In The Trump Administration

Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) has captured headlines for its aggressive public stance regarding merger enforcement. Actions attracting attention include the DOJ's challenge of AT&T's proposed acquisition of Time Warner and repeated declarations from antitrust leadership raising objections to behavioral remedies for anticompetitive mergers, even in vertical transactions.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which shares with the DOJ responsibility for enforcing the federal antitrust laws, has taken a more "speak softly and carry a big stick" approach to merger enforcement. Indeed, although it has not received nearly as much press attention as the DOJ, since January 2017, the FTC has brought nearly twice as many merger enforcement actions: 30 versus 16 for the DOJ. The FTC also continues to win in court. For instance, just last month, a federal district court granted the FTC's request for a