RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Building Worker Power

• NONCOMPETE DELAY CONTINUES. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson claimed he would stand up for workers, but he still hasn’t clarified if he will defend the agency’s noncompete agreement ban. Instead, he’s asked a federal court for 60 more days to think about it. Members of Congress are moving with more certainty. Sen. Murphy (D-CT) and Sen. Young (R-IN) reintroduced the Workforce Mobility Act to limit the use of And Sen. Murphy (D-CT) also talked with workers about the impact of noncompetes.
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• WILL THE NCAA PAY? Since 2021, athletes can earn money from college sports through name, image, and likeness deals (NIL), often funded by third parties outside the university. Last month, a federal judge approved a $2.8B settlement against the NCAA for illegally suppressing college athletes’ earnings for decades, but also paved the way for universities to fund NIL directly, potentially capping how much money athletes receive. Separately, bipartisan House members have reintroduced the SCORE Act, which would codify parts of the settlement by giving the NCAA an antitrust exemption to coordinate on athlete pay. Check out Economic Liberties’ memo on how the SCORE act could hurt smaller universities, athletes, and students.

Lowering Prices

• WHAT’S IN A PRICE? Delta announced using AI to track customers and set airfare prices, also known as surveillance pricing. Former Chair Khan’s FTC released an interim 6(b) study on surveillance pricing, finding how various industries may be using consumer data to raise prices. Then-Commissioner Ferguson voted against issuing the report and hasn’t commented on Delta’s announcement. In the meantime, Congress is paying attention to the issue. Sen. Gallego (D-AZ) demanded answers from Delta on the implications of the pricing technology for consumer protection. Casar (D-TX-35) is introducing legislation to ban the practice altogether. Check out Economic Liberties’ briefing on surveillance pricing with keynote remarks from Rep. Casar.
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• CLICK TO CANCEL LIVES ON? By the end of this year, consumers will spend $3 trillion on subscriptions. Over 40% are paying for subscriptions they don’t use, often because of cumbersome cancellation procedures. After receiving 16,000 public comments, Biden’s FTC finalized a rule making it easier to cancel a subscription. The Chamber of Commerce immediately sued to block it. Chair Ferguson could have allowed the rule to go into effect, but instead delayed its implementation until July 14^th and now an appellate court has vacated it on procedural Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN) and other Democratic Senators are pushing the FTC to reissue the rule. Other Members of Congress are plowing ahead with legislation. Sens. Schatz’s (D-HI) and Kennedy (R-LA) have reintroduced their Unsubscribe Act, Sen. Van Hollen (D-MD) and Rep. Clarke’s (D-NY-09) released their Consumer Online Payment Transparency and Integrity Act, and Sen. Gallego (D-AZ) and Sen. Fetterman (D-PA) released the Click to Cancel Consumer Protection Act.
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• BIG OIL CEOs OFF THE HOOK. In 2023, oil giants Chevron and Hess announced mergers along with Exxon and Pioneer. Based on evidence suggesting collusion among Big Oil executives and OPEC to limit supply to keep oil prices artificially high, Khan’s FTC let the transaction go through by barring John Hess, CEO of Hess Corporation, and Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources Company, from serving on the board of the respective merged companies. Estimates suggested the collusion cost American families thousands each year. FTC Chair Ferguson has now set aside both orders for Hess and Sheffield, citing insufficient evidence. Check out Economic Liberties’ comment from May 2025 detailing FTC’s authority to ban the CEOs from boards.

Admin

• OPEN SEASON AT CFPB. Coming into the Trump Administration, CFPB had returned more than $20B to over 200 million Americans, but Acting Director Russell Vought has radically changed course and dismissed over half of all pending enforcement actions. Most recently, Vought terminated CFPB’s consent order with Navy Federal Credit Union, which required them to pay $80 million in refunds to consumers for charging illegal overdraft fees, and dropped CFPB’s lawsuit to defend its rule banning medical debt from impacting credit scores. Congressional Republicans are also doing their part. The Reconciliation Bill cuts the agency’s budget by 50%, and the House Financial Services Committee hosted a hearing focused on former Director Chopra instead of calling Vought to testify for statutorily-mandated oversight.

Airlines

• JETBLUE STILL LOOKING FOR LOVE. The airline industry is at its most consolidated point in history, with the “Big Four” airlines – American, Delta, Southwest, and United – controlling 80% of the market. Right behind them is JetBlue, which continues pursuing other airlines to grow their market share. JetBlue unsuccessfully tried to merge with Spirit. In 2023, DOJ successfully blocked their anticompetitive attempt to form an alliance with American, which an appeals court and SCOTUS recently Now, JetBlue and United have struck an agreement to swap slots in the New York-Newark market, giving United access to take-off and landing at JFK airport, but it’s unclear if the Trump Administration will challenge the partnership.

Reining in Big Tech

• REQUIEM FOR AN AI MORATORIUM? Most Americans are concerned about AI, and favor laws to mitigate potential harms. Many states have already started introducing such bills, but in Reconciliation, Sen. Cruz (R-TX) was trying to push through a 10-year moratorium to ban state laws. The bipartisan backlash was extensive. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders wrote a Washington Post op-ed panning the provision and led a letter with 17 Republican Governors urging congressional leadership to strike it. Over 260 bipartisan State Legislators, Steve Bannon, and numerous organizations also opposed the moratorium. In the end, the provision died, with Sen. Tillis (R-NC) as the lone Republican voting to support it. More developments are likely. Rep. Guthrie (R-KY-02) committed to introducing a standalone bill. And on Bannon’s WarRoom, Sen. Hawley (R-MO) warned the text may circulate in NDAA, though conservative advocacy group, Article III, is urging its exclusion from the defense bill.
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• APPLE’S WALL CRACKING. For years, Apple has made it hard for third party companies, like alternative messaging apps, to fully integrate with their platforms. The Biden DOJ sued, alleging their tactics were anticompetitive, and the case just survived Apple’s attempt to dismiss it. The EU recently won a similar case against Apple, and remedies might include requiring nine connectivity features to enhance iOS compatibility. Separately, Proton, a privacy-focused tech company, has joined app developers’ class-action lawsuit against Apple. Epic Games won a similar lawsuit against Apple’s app store monopolization, though Apple has ignored the court’s order to open up its platforms fully to competitors.

Improving Health Care

• MEDICARE ADVANTAGE SCAM HITS VETERANS. Over 9 million veterans receive healthcare through the Veteran Health Administration (VHA). Over a million of those in VHA also enroll in Medicare Advantage (MA). Private MA insurers like UnitedHealth Group pay veterans cash rebates – usually about $1,000 annually – to enroll in their plans. Because of a legal loophole, however, the government cannot bill Medicare Advantage plans for veteran care and VHA still covers costs, giving MA insurance conglomerates an estimated $357 billion windfall. Rep. Doggett (D-TX-37) led a bipartisan bicameral group, including Rep. Joyce (R-PA-13,) to introduce the Guarantee Utilization of All Reimbursements for Delivery of (GUARD) Veterans’ Health Care Act to close this loophole. Separately, WSJreports DOJ may be investigating UHG for criminal Medicare fraud.
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• BREAK UP BIG PHARMACIES? The pharmacy consolidation blitz continues. CVS, the nation’s largest pharmacy with nearly 30% market share, just acquired the prescription files of 625 Rite Aid pharmacies and 64 stores after the decades-old chain filed for bankruptcy. CVS’s consolidation is creating burnout among pharmacists, leading some to die by suicide, and harming Rep. Carter (R-GA-01) introduced the bipartisan PBM Reform Act, which could bring some relief with measures to protect fairer pricing for independent pharmacies, but it’s unclear if the bill will have better prospects than its December 2024 fate–getting killed by Elon Musk in the Continuing Resolution.

Rethink Trade

• TARIFF ROLLERCOASTER. In April, shortly after announcing across-the-board tariffs, the administration promised to make 90 trade deals in 90 days with other countries. So far, however, few deals have been completed, and the uncertainty is chilling domestic manufacturing investment. The White House has only announced vague framework agreements for future negotiations with the UK, China, Indonesia, and possibly Vietnam. Details on other countries are even scarcer. Last week, the administration sent letters to several dozen threatening new, higher tariffs and extending the deal timeline to August 1. Rethink Trade published a list of criteria to assess whether deals fulfill Trump’s pledges to rebalance trade and reshore manufacturing.
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• DE MINIMIS LOOPHOLE CLOSED. For ten years, the de minimis loophole in U.S. trade law has allowed U.S. residents to import up to $800 in goods per day duty-free and inspection-free. E-commerce companies exploit the loophole to flood the U.S. with fake goods often made with forced labor, and drug smugglers to import fentanyl. But no longer. The reconciliation bill signed on July 4 terminated de minimis for commercial goods starting in 2027, which follows the administration ending de minimis for Chinese imports on May 2^nd. The admin may soon close the loophole for all other countries. Consumer safety, manufacturing, labor, and fentanyl family groups all celebrated the loophole’s termination.

Merger Boom                                                                            

• DOJ GREENLIGHTS WI-FI MONOPOLY. Trump’s DOJ is letting Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) acquire Juniper, respectively the second and third largest local area network providers that distribute Wi-Fi and account for 70% of the market. DOJ is requiring divestiture of its Instant On business and that the merged entity auction off a license to complete the deal, but HPE CEO Antonio Neri claimed on CNBC that the divestiture is “small” and “simple,” not requiring major changes to the business. AAG Slater’s approval is somewhat surprising given Trump’s interim DOJ Antitrust head sued to block the deal in January of this year, which he claimed would “eliminate fierce head-to-head competition between the companies, raise prices, reduce innovation, and diminish choice for scores of American businesses.”
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• FTC <3 MERGERS. FTC Chair Ferguson’s merger approval streak FTC approved Omnicom’s $13.5B acquisition of Interpublic, creating the world’s largest advertising firm. CNBC host Jim Cramer called the deal “so monopolistic and anti-competitive I can’t even believe it.” The FTC conditioned approval on the company not steering advertising dollars away platforms or publishers based on political viewpoints, not divestitures. Though not stated explicitly, the FTC’s focus on political views seems responsive to Elon Musk’s frustrations with advertisers organizing against X. And in a different market area, FTC also approved candy maker Mars’ $36B acquisition of snack maker Kellanova, though EU antitrust officials decided to investigate the deal.
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• TRUMP’S STEEL TAKEOVER. In the final weeks of his presidency, Biden blocked Japan’s Nippon Steel’s attempted $11B acquisition of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel over national security risks, garnering support from 850,000 United Steelworkers. Nippon and U.S. Steel sued to reverse Biden’s decision, but they didn’t have to wait for a judge. Last month, President Trump approved the merger subject to a national security agreement, which requires the now fourth largest steelmaker in the world to invest $11B in upgrading U.S. Steel plants. The agreement also includes a so-called “golden share” provision, giving Trump (and later reps from Commerce and Treasury) a permanent board seat and veto power over certain decisions, including relocating the company and worker wages. United Steelworkers President David McCall referred to the arrangement as a “startling degree of personal power.”

ICYMI

• Casar (D-TX-35) joined the Break Up Big Medicine campaign for a roundtable in Austin.
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• Walmart opened its first meatpacking plant, possibly limiting cattle suppliers’ business.
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• OpenAI is considering filing an anticompetitive complaint against Microsoft for limiting its ability to convert to a for-profit company.
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• The “Big Beautiful Bill” directs the IRS to terminate the free and highly effective Direct File and replace it with a privately owned tax service company, after tax prep companies lobbied for its removal.
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• Rethink Trade’s Katie Hettinga has found that during the past ten years, the United States has imported more food annually than it exports to the tune of $58.7B.
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• Inside Climate News covered Economic Liberties Senior Fellow for Utilities Mark Ellis’s work to lower utility prices.
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• Former DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General Doha Mekki testified before Senate Judiciary on how the government should address regulations entrenching dominant corporate power.
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• FTC and DOJ hosted its first of three listening sessions, “Lowering Americans’ Drug Prices Through Competition.”
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• Private equity is buying up the youth sports market, threatening higher prices for families.
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• C&S Wholesaler Grocers, the company that tried to buy divested Kroger-Albertsons stores, finalized a deal to purchase retail grocer SpartanNash’s 200 stores in the Midwest for $1.7B.
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• U.S. chip maker, Qualcomm, finalized a deal to purchase semiconductor design firm Alphawave for $2.4B.
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• Oil titan Shell is in discussion to acquire BP.
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• Real estate broker, Compass, sued Zillow, a digital home lister, for hiding and excluding sellers who use alternative listing websites.
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• Nutella company Ferrero is buying Kellogg for $3.1B, adding to Ferrero’s portfolio, including Nestle’s US businesses and Blue Bunny ice cream.
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• Former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya joined the Economic Liberties team as a Senior Advisor.