Enforcement Priorities of the FTC and DOJ—Insights from Recent Antitrust Conferences

In this article authors Benjamin Radesky & Sydney Hartman (Winston & Strawn) look into the evolving priorities of U.S. antitrust enforcement, noting continued momentum behind the more assertive approach shaped in recent years. Senior officials from the FTC and DOJ signaled that the agencies remain focused on challenges posed by corporate concentration, digital markets, and innovation-heavy sectors, while underscoring renewed attention to Section 2 of the Sherman Act. They also emphasized the importance of clear judicial guidance on monopolization doctrines like Trinko to support more effective enforcement.

FTC Commissioner Mark R. Meador highlighted antitrust’s role in advancing economic dignity and countering concentrated corporate power. Framing strong enforcement as a democratic imperative and part of a pro-worker agenda, Meador argued that decades of underenforcement have weakened competition and left ordinary Americans vulnerable to powerful firms. He positioned the agency’s enforcement-first posture as a return to the original intent of the antitrust laws and stressed that courts providing greater clarity in monopolization cases would enable more impactful actions.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Dina Kallay of the DOJ echoed these themes, stressing the agency’s increased focus on criminal enforcement and “pocketbook issues” such as food, healthcare, and housing. She noted initiatives like the DOJ’s Antitrust Rewards program to incentivize cartel whistleblowing and emphasized ongoing Section 2 efforts aimed at strengthening monopolization law. Kallay also addressed the intersection of antitrust and innovation, particularly regarding IP and industry standards, warning that non-F/RAND policies and dominant-controlled standards bodies can stifle innovation and entrench market power—areas the DOJ is watching closely in both enforcement and policy work…

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