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President-elect Donald Trump nominated Gail Slater to lead the antitrust division of the Department of Justice.
In an announcement posted on Truth Social Wednesday, Trump said that the pick will help ensure that “competition laws are enforced, both vigorously and FAIRLY, with clear rules that facilitate, rather than stifle, the ingenuity of our greatest companies.”
“Big Tech has run wild for years, stifling competition in our most innovative sector and, as we all know, using its market power to crack down on the rights of so many Americans, as well as those of Little Tech,” Trump said.
While Trump has promised to cut red tape in several sectors, including banking and housing, he hasn’t shied away from criticizing the market dominance of major players within the technology sector. During his first term, he brought a number of lawsuits against tech firms — and with Slater, it appears Trump is hoping to continue to crack down on the industry.
During Trump’s first term, Slater served as the tech policy adviser on the National Economic Council. She currently advises the transition team on antitrust and tech policy and is the economic policy adviser to Vice President-elect JD Vance.
While the Trump administration is widely expected to be friendlier to mergers and acquisitions, it remains to be seen how lenient — if at all — his Justice Department will be when it comes to antitrust, considering that Trump has focused on encouraging innovation and technological advancement within the U.S.
That’s especially noteworthy given that there are a number of high-profile, ongoing cases that Trump’s Justice Department will have a say over in the coming years that could reshape the business landscape in the country.
In March, the Justice Department sued Apple (AAPL-0.16%) over what it claims is an illegal monopoly over the U.S. smartphone market. The DOJ has argued that Apple makes it prohibitively difficult for iPhone users to switch to other smartphones, stifling innovation within the market.
Late last month, Apple filed a motion to keep the case out of court, countering that the case is speculative and doesn’t prove that the company has maintained an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market.
Google (GOOGL+1.87%) also came under antitrust scrutiny, appearing in two major court cases over its dominance of the online search engine and advertising markets.
In August, Google lost the biggest antitrust trial in decades after a federal judge ruled that Google monopolized the online search engine market. The Justice Department said that it wants Google to sell off its Chrome web browser as a way to loosen the company’s grip on the search engine market.
Google and the DOJ made their final arguments in the trial focusing on the company’s ad tech stack on Nov. 25, with the federal judge expected to issue a ruling on the case by the end of the year.
Outside of the tech sector, Visa (V-0.94%) is expected to head to trial next year over a DOJ lawsuit accusing the card issuer of monopolizing debit markets. The suit alleges that Visa used its dominance to stifle the growth of existing competitors and prevent other firms from developing alternatives. More than 60% of debit transactions in the U.S. use Visa’s debit network, according to the complaint.
Also on Wednesday, Trump tapped Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency advocate, as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atkins, who now leads the consulting firm Patomak Global Partners, is expected to be much friendlier to cryptocurrency interests than President Joe Biden’s SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler. Last month, Gensler — who has been maligned by the crypto lobby — said he would resign during Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
