USDA to launch partnership with state attorneys general on competition issues
Hagstrom Report Follow
| Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce today that USDA is launching an Agricultural Competition Partnership with attorneys general in 31 states and the District of Columbia to help the attorneys general tackle anti-competitive market structures in agriculture and related industries, senior administration officials said in an embargoed call to reporters Tuesday. Vilsack will announce the partnership at the White House Competition Council meeting marking the second anniversary of President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition. Biden will attend the meeting. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission will also announce draft merger guidelines, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge will announce a crackdown on rental application fees. “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to addressing corporate consolidation and its negative effects on the U.S. economy, such as unfair competition and increased prices,” Vilsack said in a statement that was embargoed until 5 a.m. today. “By placing necessary resources where they are needed most and helping states identify and address anti-competitive and anti-consumer behavior, in partnership with federal authorities, through these cooperative agreements we can ensure a more robust and competitive agricultural sector. I’m pleased to see that a bipartisan group of states have committed to joining USDA in better protecting the fair and competitive markets that are a critical cornerstone of the American economy.” Under the partnership, USDA will provide the attorneys general with information they need to use antitrust laws to address concentration in the meat and poultry industry, an issue of interest to farmers and ranchers, and in the grocery business, an issue of interest to consumers concerned about the price of food. “Under the Agricultural Competition Partnership, this bipartisan group will be able to harness all available legal enforcement tools — at both the state and federal level — to help lower food prices and promote competition in agricultural markets,” the White House said. Farm leaders are also likely to be interested in the administration’s merger guidelines because there have been concerns about concentration among both input suppliers and buyers of agricultural commodities. The merger guidelines to be announced by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are designed to “better reflect how the agencies determine a merger’s effect on competition in the modern economy and evaluate proposed mergers under the law,” the agencies said. There will be a public comment period on the merger guidelines. |
| “Unchecked consolidation threatens the free and fair markets upon which our economy is based,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland. “These updated merger guidelines respond to modern market realities and will enable the Justice Department to transparently and effectively protect the American people from the damage that anticompetitive mergers cause.” “Competitive markets and economic opportunity go hand in hand. Today, we are issuing draft guidelines that are faithful to the law, which prevents mergers that threaten competition or tend to create monopolies. As markets and commercial realities change, it is vital that we adapt our law enforcement tools to keep pace so that we can protect competition in a manner that reflects the intricacies of our modern economy. Simply put, competition today looks different than it did 50 — or even 15 — years ago,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Antitrust Division. |
| “Open, competitive, resilient markets have been a bedrock of America’s economic success and dynamism throughout our nation’s history. Faithful and vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws is key to maintaining that success,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan. “With these draft merger guidelines, we are updating our enforcement manual to reflect the realities of how firms do business in the modern economy. Informed by thousands of public comments — spanning healthcare workers, farmers, patient advocates, musicians, and entrepreneurs — these guidelines contain critical updates while ensuring fidelity to the mandate Congress has given us and the legal precedent on the books.” |
