A coalition of prominent business groups is urging President Trump to double down on a “muscular antitrust policy” as he looks for ways to bring down prices for ordinary Americans.
Thursday’s exit of Justice Department antitrust chief Gail Slater prompted the groups to send the letter later in the day, sources told The Post. Her departure followed clashes with agency leadership over how to handle high-profile antitrust cases.
“Across the economy, consolidation and abuses of market power have made everyday necessities more expensive for Americans,” stated the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Post. “When competition breaks down, prices rise, choices shrink, smaller businesses are squeezed out, and jobs are lost.”
Signers included Y Combinator, an influential startup accelerator; News Media Alliance, a trade group that represents news outlets including The Post; Beeper, a messaging startup that had a high-profile legal dispute with Apple in 2023; and DuckDuckGo, a search engine that has called out Google for having a monopoly.
Bringing down prices is a top priority for Trump and his allies ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Cuing off of that, the business groups said strong competition is “essential not only to American strength and innovation, but to lowering the cost of living and increasing affordability for working families.”
The White House did not immediately return a request for comment.
Notable conservatives also signed on to the letter, including Joel Thayer, a Republican attorney and president of Digital Progress Institute; Aiden Buzzetti of The Bull Moose Project; and Rachel Bovard of the Conservative Partnership Institute.
The missive included a sector-by-sector breakdown of how anticompetitive practices have resulted in higher prices. In the tech industry, “dominant platforms” use their market control to impose “coercive terms on sellers and advertisers, and pass those costs on to consumers,” the groups wrote.
Grocery prices spike in part because dominant food retailers block out smaller rivals and charge exorbitant prices for goods, while monopolistic agriculture farms have eroded independent farmers’ leverage when negotiating for goods like seeds and fertilizer.
Elsewhere, consolidation within the healthcare sector has “weakened competition, reduced patient choice, and driven up premiums, out-of-pocket costs, and prescription drug prices,” the letter stated.
“A muscular antitrust policy is not about punishing success,” it continued. “It is about ensuring that markets remain open, that firms compete on the merits, and that no company becomes so powerful it can raise prices, restrict output, or block competitors with impunity.”
“We respectfully urge your Administration to build on its America First Antitrust commitment by advancing strong enforcement in 2026, particularly in sectors where intervention will most directly affect the cost and availability of everyday essentials,” the letter added.
Other signatories included the National Grocers Association and more than two dozen additional small business and regional food industry trade groups.
Trump pledged to continue a strong pro-competition agenda upon winning the White House, though some critics have alleged that MAGA-friendly lobbyists have wielded too much influence with his advisers.
The Justice Department is slated to face off in court this March with Live Nation and Ticketmaster over allegations it has operated an illegal monopoly that results in higher ticket prices for consumers.
In recent days, reports emerged that Slater was sidelined as Live Nation pursued potential settlement talks with DOJ leadership. And last year, The Post reported that top Justice Department officials settled a bid to block Hewlett Packard’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks despite Slater’s strong objections.
The decision to remove Slater came straight from the White House, a source with knowledge of the situation said. By Thursday morning, Slater had announced that she was leaving the agency, though she did not elaborate on the circumstances.
Some sources pushed back on the notion that MAGA lobbyists successfully pushed out Slater, asserting instead that she had merely worn out her welcome after frequent clashes with Attorney General Pam Bondi in recent months.
The DOJ also has pending cases against Visa and Apple. The agency said earlier this month it would appeal what critics viewed as a softer-than-expected remedy enacted by the judge who ruled Google has an illegal monopoly over online search.
Tensions had been high for months due to a divide between two camps — populist conservatives that preferred an aggressive anti-monopoly strategy and other Republicans who favored a more traditional, lenient approach to enforcement that encourages dealmaking.
Omeed Assefi will serve as acting antitrust chief following Slater’s exit, sources said.
