Insights

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.

After more than two years of preview and consultation, including thousands of public comments, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission issued the final version of their 2023 Merger Guidelines (“Guidelines”) yesterday, December 18, 2023. As we noted when the draft guidelines were released in July, the final Guidelines both harken back to older, long-standing precedent and provide a framework for how the Agencies apply merger enforcement policy in modern economic markets. The Guidelines hold fast to the Biden administration’s enforcement policy to address harms from what they perceive to be “excessive” corporate consolidation by reinvigorating and enhancing merger enforcement. Yet, the final Guidelines show that the Agencies have responded to at least some of the criticism of the draft version, and may be more likely to align with how courts currently analyze merger challenges.

The Biden Administration has promised an across-the-government effort to combat climate change, consistent with policy priorities during the Obama Administration. While much speculation has focused on a climate infrastructure package or a possible revamp of the Clean Power Plan, appliance manufacturers should be prepared for a less publicized but similarly significant change in direction from the current administration: increased enforcement under the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) appliance standards program.