Relationship with Federal Trade Commission ‘Never Been Better’: Justice Department’s Kanter

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2022 — The relationship between the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission “has never been better,” said Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s antitrust division, in light of the organizations’ handling of an agenda that looks to tackle the market challenges of big tech.

The comment from Kanter, a Google critic who was appointed by President Joe Biden last year to the position, was made at the Enforcer’s Summit, an event co-hosted by the DOJ and FTC with the intention of creating a space for antitrust enforcement leaders to discuss challenges and potential avenues of growth when creating a competitive American economy.

“Here in the U.S., enforcers are operating against a backdrop where decades of consolidation across markets has contributed to higher prices, lower wages, falling rates of new business formation, and an economy that is less dynamic,” FTC chairwoman Lina Kahn said at the April 4 event.

“Meanwhile, in the digital economy, a handful of firms have captured control over key arteries of commerce and communication. And these facts are prompting enforcers and policy makers to reassess the efficacy of our current tools and approach and have spurred a broader public discussion around how to ensure that our antitrust regime is fully promoting a thriving, competitive economy and widespread prosperity and innovation that serves all Americans,” she added.

The summit was held nearly a year after the Biden administration tasked government officials “to adopt a whole of government approach to competition policy” through an executive order last summer.

Since then, the DOJ and FTC have worked together to hold monthly listening sessions from stakeholders, consumers and workers, who are affected by antitrust mergers and acquisitions. In January, the FTC and the DoJ announced the launch of a joint review of merger guidelines. Khan said the intent of the recent guidelines is meant “to ensure that our tools and frameworks are reflecting new market realities.”

The FTC and DOJ have already held one listening session together in March and plan to hold three more before the end of May.