DOJ Launches “Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force” to Advocate Against State and Federal Laws and Regulations

The Intent and Scope of the Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force

On March 27, 2025, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division launched an Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force (the “Task Force”) designed to identify and eliminate state and federal laws and regulations that are deemed to hinder free market competition. The Task Force will bring together attorneys, economists, and other staff from across the Division and interagency partners, and its target sectors include the transportation, healthcare, energy, food & agriculture, and housing industries.

The Task Force is the Antitrust Division’s first major initiative since Gail Slater was confirmed as Assistant Attorney General on March 12. The initiative doubles down on previous statements AAG Slater made suggesting that regulation is only needed in cases where antitrust enforcement proves unfruitful and reflects the broader deregulatory sentiment of the second Trump Administration. In the press release announcing the Task Force, AAG Slater proclaimed that “unwinding burdensome regulations” will be required to realize “President Trump’s economic Golden Age.”  

Indeed, the Task Force initiative follows a series of executive orders to implement the administration’s broad deregulatory agenda, including its February 19 Executive Order that implemented the Administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative and directed federal agencies to assess regulations that “impose undue burdens on small businesses and impede private enterprise and entrepreneurship.” In line with that mandate, one of the Task Force’s primary responsibilities is to ensure that small businesses have a fair playing field by identifying regulations that discourage small businesses from entering or expanding in certain markets or otherwise increase their compliance costs.

With respect to housing and agriculture/food markets, the Task Force intends to focus on lowering prices and increasing supply. In transportation and energy markets, the Task Force will focus on laws and regulations that create antitrust immunities/safe harbors or otherwise grant protections to monopolies or incumbent providers. In healthcare, the Task Force will tackle laws and regulations that discourage providers from providing low-cost, high quality healthcare services and that “instead encourage overbilling and consolidation.”

As a first step, the Antitrust Division is calling for public comments—and expressly invited comments from market participants previously impacted in an anticompetitive manner—to help identify the “unnecessary laws and regulations that raise the highest barriers to competition.” The deadline for comments is May 26.

In addition to conducting its own investigations into such laws and regulations, the Task Force will actively file amicus briefs and statements of interest in private litigation and comment on both proposed federal regulations and pending or percolating state legislation. Businesses operating in any of the specifically identified industries, as well as businesses that are subject to high levels of regulatory oversight, should continue monitoring the Task Force’s findings and actions.

Crowell’s Antitrust and Competition Group is following developments and is available to help clients, particularly those in regulated industries, submit public comments to the DOJ.