U.S. Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Attorney General Merrick Garland (left) announce the antitrust lawsuit against Apple at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2024. Speaking at a press conference.
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U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Director Jonathan Kanter Trump said on Tuesday he would step down on Friday, ending a three-year term, with the goal of reinvigorating U.S. competition law
Kanter and his opponents Federal Trade CommissionLina Khan seeks to revive U.S. antitrust enforcement to check corporate power and gets support from Democratic Party There are some more republican party.
“Plutocratic rule is itself a dictatorship,” Kanter said in his farewell speech on Tuesday. “When corporations that are larger and more powerful than most governments in the world threaten individual freedoms through coercive private taxation and regulation, our way of life is threatened,” he said.
Some lawyers and business groups have criticized Khan and Kanter’s agenda and support a return to the more limited antitrust view that has prevailed for four decades.
but elected president Donald Trumpantitrust Featured Significant cuts in enforcement are considered unlikely.
Gail Slater, an aide to incoming Vice President J.D. Vance, is poised to replace Kanter if she is confirmed. Before being named Trump’s running mate, Vance praised Khan’s efforts and said corporations could engage in “authoritarian” behavior.
Kanter’s deputy, Doha Maki, will lead the antitrust division at least until Trump takes office. After that, Trump can name another acting head of the department.
Kanter has put the Justice Department’s antitrust division into high gear, targeting apple, alphabetical Google, Ticket Master and visaand won a groundbreaking legal victory against Google in a lawsuit against Dominate online searches This was proposed during the first Trump administration.
The Justice Department under Kanter also brought successful cases block tie between JetBlue Airways and AmericanJetBlue Airways plans to merge with Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion, and Penguin Random House, the world’s largest book publisher, and rival Simon & Schuster Inc. are merging for $2.2 billion.
In his speech, Kanter warned that the Justice Department’s antitrust work would face an existential threat if it was unable to fully fund its merger filing fees.
