Biden FTC applauded for moving to crack down on ‘predatory pricing,’ other corporate abuses
Progressives cheered Thursday after the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-1 to issue a new policy statement restoring the agency’s commitment to “rigorously enforcing the federal ban on unfair methods of competition.”
While Section 5 of the FTC Act—passed in the early 20th century by congressional lawmakers unsatisfied with the Sherman Act, the original antitrust statute—prohibits “unfair methods of competition” and instructs the commission to identify and rein in such practices, the agency has refused for decades to exercise its full legal authority to do so.
The statement approved Thursday by FTC Chair Lina Khan and Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya revives the agency’s policy of doing everything in its power to prevent corporations from using anti-competitive tactics to gain advantages.
As the Americal Economic Liberties Project (AELP) explained:
Section 5 of the FTC Act of 1914 originally charged the Federal Trade Commission with using its expertise to distinguish between “unfair” and “fair” methods of competition. As opposed to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s role, which is focused on enforcement of the law, the FTC was tasked by Congress to clarify and interpret the rules of the road for anti-competitive behavior.
However, beginning in the 1980s, antitrust enforcers strayed from this original mission, culminating in a 2015 policy statement where the commission announced it would not bring cases under Section 5 unless they met a much narrower framework. One of Chair Khan’s first actions as head of the FTC was to overturn this 2015 policy statement, with promises for additional policy statements in the future.
AELP executive director Sarah Miller called the blueprint approved Thursday “an important policy change that will empower the agency to better combat anti-competitive behavior across all markets.”
“As a result, the FTC will have renewed authority to outlaw predatory pricing, unfair supplier rebates, and other abusive monopolistic tactics with sharp focus,” said Miller. “Chair Khan isn’t just realigning the agency with its congressional mandate after years of retreat, but charting a path toward a new era of refined antitrust enforcement that prioritizes working families and small businesses.”
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
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