The President's Competition Order – One Week On

On July 9, 2021, President Biden issued an "Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy" (the "Order").  The Order responds to what the President characterizes as a "failed experiment" in lax antitrust enforcement that he believes has led to undue concentration of businesses throughout the economy.  It appears that the analytically-fuzzy era of "big is bad" may be returning to Washington.  In the first week following the Order's issuance, the federal antitrust enforcement agencies have begun actively gearing up for new enforcement initiatives and wholesale changes in the standards of antitrust review.

The Order calls-out a wide swath of industry sectors that the President suggests warrant particular scrutiny.  These include: