RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Admin

• ARGENTINA CURRENCY SWAMP.  Last month, the Trump Administration authorized a $40B bailout to Argentina, likely benefiting Treasury Secretary Bessent’s former colleague, hedge fund billionaire Robert Citrone, and institutional investors like BlackRock and Fidelity, who hold Argentine debt. After the deal was announced, Argentina dropped an export tax to send their soybeans to China, another hit to U.S. soybean farmers struggling since China terminated purchases in retaliation for U.S. tariffs. Sen. Schumer (D-NY) and 20 Democratic senators urged Bessent to change course on tariffs to support farmers, Rep. Velázquez (D-NY-07) called out the move as contradicting America First policy, and Senate Republicans also questioned the bailout. Under a newly announced trade framework, China would purchase 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this year and 25 million annually for three years, a move the American Soybean Association supports, though the purchase level is lower than prior years.

Airlines

• DEREGULATION’S UNFULFILLED PROMISES. Four airlines dominate 80% of flights across the nation. Senate Judiciary recently held a hearing to explore how to increase competition in the industry. In his testimony, Economic Liberties Senior Fellow Bill McGee laid blame squarely on the false promises of airline deregulation for the lack of competition and worsening consumer experience. Low-cost carrier CEOs from Allegiant and Frontier testified the biggest airlines push them out of business by blocking access to gates, an issue Sen. Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Warren (D-MA)’s Airport Gate Competition Act would address. In the hearing, Sen. Hawley also pressed Frontier CEO Barry Biffle on the company’s use of employee incentives to collect fees from customers.

Reining in Big Tech 

• GOOGLE AD TECH REMEDIES ON DECK. 70% of digital advertisements occur in a closed ecosystem — allowing big tech to control the terms, sale, and placement of digital ads – driving up costs on advertisers, digital content creators, and consumers. In April, a federal judge in Virginia ruled Google illegally monopolized this market. Last month, Google and the DOJ made their cases for how the judge should remedy Google’s monopoly, stop its abusive conduct, and restore competition. For example, DOJ wants Google to divest parts of its advertising business. Closing arguments are scheduled for later in November. After a different federal judge ordered remedies in the Google Search case many found weak, all eyes are on whether the Eastern District of Virginia will stop Google’s illegal conduct and rein in its digital advertising monopoly.  In a separate trial, a federal judge in New York sided with news publishers, including Gannett, also finding that Google monopolized the digital advertising market. Check out Big Tech on Trial for a deeper dive into the DOJ Google Ad Tech case.

Housing

• ZILLOW IN HOT WATER. Zillow started in 2006 as a home buying transparency tool, and now doubles the traffic of its closest competitor. But a series of lawsuits suggest Zillow may be attaining this dominance unfairly. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson has sued to block the company’s $100M deal to have Redfin exit the online multifamily rental unit advertising business. The deal led to hundreds of Redfin employee layoffs. Five bipartisan state AGs have sued Zillow and Redfin for the same deal.  And Zillow faced three new private lawsuits in 2025. One from Compass, the largest U.S. real estate brokerage, alleges Zillow illegally restricted them from listing homes on other online platforms.

Private Equity

• PE TAKES THE FIELD? The Big Ten college sports conference generates nearly $1B in annual revenue. Now, the conference and its affiliated schools are negotiating a $2B private equity deal for its media rights and sponsorships. The Big Ten’s response is in part due to mounting athletic venue debt, and the costs of sharing revenue after various successful antitrust lawsuits from athletes. Sen. Cantwell (D-WA) questioned whether the deal would compromise universities’ tax-exempt status, and Rep. Baumgartner’s (R-WA-05) introduced the PROTECT Act to ban PE stakes in college athletics revenue.

Improving Health Care

• CIGNA’S REBATE SHUFFLE. The largest vertically integrated healthcare conglomerates own PBMs that negotiate drug benefits for insurance plans, and their revenue equates to a fifth of U.S. healthcare expenditures. An FTC report under Chair Khan detailed how PBMs have used rebates from drug manufacturers to increase their revenue and block generic drugs from gaining larger market share. Likely in response to this regulatory scrutiny and anticipated legislative efforts, Cigna’s Express Scripts has announced they are stepping away from rebates to lower costs for patients, but some suspect the PBM will make up the revenue through administrative fees and self-preferencing of affiliated pharmacies.

Promoting National Security

• DOD WANTS THE RIGHT TO REPAIR. Increasingly, users of equipment across all sectors– from McDonalds ice cream machines to farm equipment— are forced to use manufacturers for repairs and confront significant delays. The U.S. military is no exception. Trump Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll explained repair restrictions, for example, are keeping 80% of a certain type of artillery out of operation. Following a directive in the 2023 NDAA, the GAO concluded, and DOD agreed, Congress should broaden the military’s ability to repair its equipment.  The Senate’s 2026 NDAA advanced last month does just that. The Administration and 300 small businesses support this effort, including motor sport businesses that could repair DOD equipment as an alternative to larger manufacturers. Pending the end of the shutdown, House and Senate Armed Services Committees will decide whether this provision becomes law.

Rethink Trade

• U.S./CHINA TRADE “DEAL?” President Trump campaigned on using tariffs to crack down on China’s trade abuses.  Since taking office, Trump imposed tariffs on China peaking at 145% but later reduced them to 30%. Now, after meeting with Xi Jinping, Trump announced a proposed trade deal that would lower China tariffs another 10%, scale back U.S. high-tech export controls, including on advanced microchips, and temporarily suspend fees on Chinese ships arriving in U.S. ports related to a shipbuilding trade enforcement action. In exchange, China agreed to delay new expansive rare earths export controls for one year and to buy some U.S. soybeans. But the deal does nothing to loosen China’s monopoly control over processing the minerals needed for virtually every modern manufacturing process.  Many experts believe the framework is more favorable for China and will do nothing  to create  U.S. manufacturing jobs.
  ‌
• SCOTUS ORAL ARGUMENTS ON TARIFFS. Following Trump’s April imposition of tariffs on nearly every country in the world, several businesses and 12 states sued the Trump administration, claiming misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). On Wednesday, the Supreme Court held oral arguments over whether IEEPA authorizes the president to impose broad tariffs, including President Trump’s reciprocal and fentanyl-related tariffs. The justices probed whether IEEPA provides any tariff authority to a president and if it does, whether an open-ended delegation of trade authority would be constitutional. SCOTUS siding with President Trump would be a generational expansion of executive authority, allowing the president to unilaterally reward and punish companies, markets, and nations through tariff policy. Check out Rethink Trade Director Lori Wallach’s WBUR On Point and Bloomberg TV the SCOTUS tariff case.

Mergers

• RAIL AT A CROSSROADS. Only four Class 1 railroads remain in the U.S., and two, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, want to merge. Surface Transportation Board rules—in place since 2001—require mergers to “enhance competition.” Despite all evidence to the contrary, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific allege it will, but businesses relying on rail are skeptical. For example, the American Chemistry Council claims the deal will raise prices and endanger critical supply chains. Forty chemical manufacturing CEOs have voiced similar opposition. Meanwhile, Union Pacific CEO Jim Bena met with President Trump to discuss the merger, and Senate Judiciary is considering the nomination of two STB members who could decide the deal’s fate. Check out Economic Liberties’ brief and More Perfect Union’s video for more info on the merger’s potential impacts.
  ‌
• BANK MERGER BONANZA? M&A deals over the last 20 years have led to 2,300 bank closures, restricting lending for small businesses and threatening the country’s financial stability. Despite these harms, President Trump signed a Congressional Review Act resolution in June to overturn OCC rules that strengthened bank merger review. Banks are taking note of these lenient signals. PNC announced plans to acquire Colorado based FirstBank and Huntington plans to acquire Texas-Mississippi Cadence bank.  And in October, Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank announced plans to acquire Comerica for $10.9B, creating the 9th largest U.S. bank with over $288B in assets. That deal must be approved by DOJ, the Fed, the OCC, and the FDIC, and all have signaled support for bank mergers. Treasury Secretary Bessent pushed regulators to approve mergers.

MEDIA

• ONE STREAM TO RULE THEM ALL. The U.S. media market has consolidated, leaving a handful of corporations to control Americans’ access to entertainment and news, increasingly via streaming services. Newly merged Paramount-Skydance, owned by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s son, David Ellison, is one of those giants and apparently has further expansion ambitions. Paramount-Skydance has made three unsolicited offers to buy Warner Brothers-Discover (WBD.) Such a deal would combine CNN, CBS News, Paramount+ and HBO Max. WBD has rejected the offers, and the Writers Guild of America cited a Paramount-WBD merger as a threat to free speech, workers, and competition. Netflix is also potentially preparing a bid, but President Trump reportedly favors Ellison’s control of WBD and, therefore, CNN. Economic Liberties Ashley Nowicki cited ongoing consolidation of media streaming services will further endanger freedom of speech.

Lowering Prices

• MICROSOFT HIKES VIDEO GAME PRICES AFTER MERGER. In response to former Chair Khan’s attempt to block the deal, Microsoft claimed its 2023 acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard would not raise prices or hurt workers post-closing. Khan proved prescient. Last month, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription by 50% (from $19.99 per month to $29.99 per month). Microsoft also laid off almost 2,000 workers despite reporting $5B in revenue from subscriptions last year alone. Meanwhile, FTC Chair Ferguson quit defending an appeal to block the merger.

ICYMI

• While the SNAP program ran out of money on November 1, the FTC and DOJ are still processing corporate mergers during the shutdown. Check out Economic Liberties merger tracker to keep up to date with the deals.
  ‌
• Bipartisan business groups, representing hotel owners to ranchers, are asking the Trump Administration to strengthen antitrust enforcement and resist Wall Street pressure to return to lax enforcement.
  ‌
• Sen. Welch (D-VT) and Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA-03) introduced the Freedom for Agricultural Repair and Maintenance Act (FARM Act) to give farmers the right to repair their agricultural equipment.
  ‌
• Southwest Airlines announced a new debit card rewards program.
  ‌
• A new nationwide study found higher death rates increased in PE-owned hospital emergency departments.
  ‌
• Gavin Newsom in California signed AB 325, banning algorithmic price fixing and other coercive price and wage fixing across the economy, and increased its criminal and civil penalties for corporate violators of state antitrust law from $1M per violation to $6M.
  ‌
• Check out former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya’s op-ed in The New Republic on how his experience as an FTC Commissioner led him to view politics as a struggle between people versus concentrated corporate power versus political parties.
  ‌
• The Trump Administration officially nixed the IRS Direct File, a program launched in 2023 that allowed taxpayers to file their taxes for free.
  ‌
• SCOTUS rejected Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s attempt to force consumers into arbitration and avoid a class action lawsuit for monopolizing the live events industry.
  ‌
• A federal appeals court rejected pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk’s attempt to block Medicare drug price negotiations on free speech grounds.
  ‌
• Check out my letter to the editor in the Toledo Blade on how the first Trump Administration’s successful antitrust action against Visa built the case for a Biden lawsuit for the company’s illegal debit card swipe fees.
  ‌
• Check out Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator’s paper on how companies use loyalty programs to trap and surveil consumers.
  ‌
• Amazon plans to replace more than 600,000 jobs with robots by 2033.
  ‌
• The big airline lobby group Airlines for America is opposing additional safety measures after FAA found cracks in Boeing 737s.
  ‌
• President Trump plans to nominate Ryan Baasch, National Economic Council staffer, as FTC Commissioner to replace Commissioner Holyoak, who is expected to be nominated for Utah AG.
  ‌
• Economic Liberties’ Senior Fellow Hannah Garden-Monheit published a report with the Roosevelt Institute on how to cut red tape and make government less bureaucratic, more effective and responsive to the public.