Trump’s FTC Pick Known for ‘Energetic’ Antitrust Enforcement

Posted by Bloomberg

Trump’s FTC Pick Known for ‘Energetic’ Antitrust Enforcement

By Alexei Alexis

Joseph Simons, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Federal Trade Commission, might be more inclined than the agency’s acting chief to pursue enforcement against big firms like Qualcomm Inc., antitrust lawyers told Bloomberg Law.

Simons is most likely to differ from acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen in non-merger enforcement, going after companies that unfairly keep out competition through market domination, practitioners said. But he’s not expected to step outside traditional antitrust bounds in doing so, which could frustrate public interest advocates and congressional Democrats who are pushing regulators to expand their use of antitrust law.

The White House on Oct. 19 announced Trump’s intention to nominate Simons, a Republican, to head the agency after months of uncertainty about the outlook for the agency. The FTC currently has only two sitting commissioners on a normally five-member body. The president has also picked Rohit Chopra, a senior fellow at the Consumer Federation of America, to fill a vacant Democratic seat. Chopra was previously an assistant director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He is Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) top choice for the spot.

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