Antitrust Alert #3
In our last edition, we speculated that President-elect Trump’s administration might lean more heavily toward assertive antitrust enforcement. Now, it seems he has confirmed that more aggressive stance with the selection of Gail Slater for the position of Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust at the Department of Justice.
Gail Slater: Who She Is
Slater is an Oxford educated lawyer who is no stranger to Washington, D.C. antitrust policy circles; She cut her teeth at the FTC and eventually became an Attorney-Advisor to Commissioner Julie Brill (Brill, interestingly enough, was a Democratic appointee and noted consumer protection advocate). After leaving the FTC, she first became an economic and tech advisor to the Trump Administration before making stops at both Fox and Roku, where she helped to lead antitrust and competition practices at both firms. Her final post prior to this nomination was as counsel to Vice President-elect Vance.
Vance, as has been noted before, is particularly interested in antitrust and has endorsed current FTC Chair Lina Khan’s assertive record on competition, particularly against “Big Tech.” This world view has a growing number of adherents in GOP circles, and it seems with the appointment of Slater, the traditional Chicago School/Robert Bork/Chamber of Commerce wing of GOP antitrust policy is on the wane. In fact, President-elect Trump’s own post announcing Slater puts enforcement and continued scrutiny of Big Tech at the center of an approach to “Make America Competitive Again”:
What This Could Mean
It is noteworthy that the AAG for Antitrust has been named before any other Assistant Attorney General, or even the Associate AG. The incoming Administration certainly views the position, and its enforcement mission, as central to its economic messaging. President-elect Trump’s full-throated endorsement of continued action against Big Tech also quiets rumors of attempts to settle the cases now in court, particularly the Google Search and Ad Tech cases.
The move additionally shows continued alignment between the incoming Administration and the Silicon Valley venture funders who have taken to labeling themselves “Little Tech.” Look to see continued enforcement from DoJ, although with maybe softer edges, and possibly new enforcement priorities. There could also be some revision of the more controversial aspects of the 2023 Merger Guidelines, though a wholesale rewrite seems off the table.
Still to come will be the appointment of the FTC Chair, a position that could complement the DOJ or, as some have suggested with a nod to the Trump coalition, be more from the traditional Republican antitrust wing.
This article is part of a series examining Antitrust in the new administration from FGS Global’s Partner & Global Head of Competition Josh Tzuker. Read the previous editions here:
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