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Trump Revokes Biden Administration’s Executive Order on Antitrust & Competition but other Biden Administration Antitrust Policy Changes Remain in Place

By  |  August 29, 2025

By: John Carroll & Jared Nagley (Sheppard Mullin) 

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    In this blog post, authors John Carroll & Jared Nagley (Sheppard Mullin) go over President Trump’s August 13, 2025 decision to revoke the Biden Administration’s 2021 Executive Order on promoting competition in the American economy. The 2021 order had been one of the most expansive shifts in U.S. antitrust enforcement, directing over a dozen federal agencies to take up 72 initiatives aimed at strengthening competition across sectors like healthcare and agriculture, while also addressing barriers such as non-compete agreements.

    The Antitrust Division, in its response, emphasized that the revocation allows for a recalibrated, modernized approach to competition policy that aligns with a “dynamic and innovative economy.” The Division also praised the administration’s efforts to promote competition through more targeted executive actions, such as initiatives lowering drug prices and reducing regulatory barriers. This suggests a shift from broad, structural directives toward more tailored competition policies under Trump’s leadership.

    Despite the revocation, two major Biden-era changes to U.S. antitrust law remain intact. The Trump administration has opted to retain the 2023 Merger Guidelines, which significantly redefined the analytical framework for merger review, and the newly finalized Hart-Scott-Rodino Act rules, effective February 10, 2025. These rules impose far more extensive disclosure requirements on merging parties, a development many observers had expected to be rolled back, but which now appears to be a lasting fixture of U.S. antitrust enforcement…

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