Key takeaways
- DOJ and FTC recently hosted first meeting of Biden administration’s multiagency Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing
- Agencies touted various steps they’ve taken to reduce consumer prices and vowed to root out and take action against antitrust violations that raise them
- While the work of the Strike Force could be viewed as driven by both politics and policy, the meeting serves as reminder that clients should be vigilant about identifying and preventing potential antitrust violations in the current highly charged antitrust enforcement environment
On August 1, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) hosted the first meeting of the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing (Strike Force), a multiagency initiative sitting at the intersection of antitrust and consumer protection enforcement. President Biden launched the Strike Force in March 2024, promising to “crack down on companies who break the law while keeping prices high for American consumers.” The Strike Force, aiming to root out anticompetitive, unfair, deceptive and fraudulent business practices, also includes the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Transportation (DOT), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The public portion of the meeting featured remarks from senior officials from each agency, discussing enforcement actions and rulemaking efforts intended to lower consumer pricing and combat inflation – expected to be a critical concern for American voters this November.
FTC Chair Lina Khan keyed into these concerns in her opening remarks, describing the FTC’s “laser focus” on the effects felt by Americans from illegal pricing. Chair Khan called upon the FTC to open an inquiry into grocery store prices and noted the FTC’s efforts to finalize the click-to-cancel rule that would simplify cancelling recurring subscription payments – two issues near and dear to consumers. Chair Khan also described the FTC’s power to curtail a wide range of issues that can lead to higher prices, such as anticompetitive behavior and deceptive bait-and-switch tactics. Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer also weighed in, noting the importance of both the Antitrust Division and the Civil Division of the DOJ to the Strike Force. Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter agreed, noting the DOJ’s intention to hold corporations accountable for illegal behaviors that “rip off Americans.”