Protection Against Foreign Anticompetitive Automotive Supply Chain Practices Affecting U.S. Activities

Automotive industry participants may face increased costs and risk from wholly foreign anticompetitive activities far upstream in their global supply chain. Antitrust laws, like the Sherman Act, protect American markets from anticompetitive practices. But, under the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act ("FTAIA"), American antitrust laws only reach foreign conduct in specific circumstances. For example, an anticompetitive act committed abroad must, among other things, "directly" affect U.S. domestic, import, or certain export activities and the effect must give rise to a Sherman Act claim before U.S. courts may address it. An in-depth look at the cases discussed below can be found in Foley's Antitrust newsletter but a quick overview is provided in this blog.