Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Federal Trade Commission, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 2023.
Kevin Wurm | Reuters
President Joe Biden will launch a new task force on Tuesday to address “unfair and illegal” business pricing, which Biden sees as a major reason why consumers are not yet feeling the impact of cooling inflation rates and a strong.
The task force will be jointly led by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, two agencies at the forefront of the Biden administration’s aggressive regulatory agenda over the past three years.
“We are excited to chair the President’s new Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing, which builds on the FTC’s far-reaching work to promote competition and counter illegal trade practices that are inflating costs for Americans,” said the FTC chairwoman Lina Khan. she told reporters during a call Monday.
Deputy Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter will co-chair the strike force alongside Khan.
“Here at the Department of Justice, we are engaging with some of the most powerful corporations in the world so we can improve the lives of American families,” Kanter said during the roll call.
Jonathan Kanter, deputy attorney general of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice, arrives in federal court September 12, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
On Tuesday afternoon, Biden will convene the sixth formal meeting of the White House Competition Council, a group of senior administration officials tasked with rooting out anticompetitive practices across a broad range of industries.
“Over the past year, supply chains have returned to normal and inflation has come down,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard said during the call. “Some companies are not passing these savings on to consumers…President Biden is fed up with corporate practices that unfairly increase costs for consumers and is taking action.”
Before the council meeting, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will release a final rule to reduce credit card late fees. The Department of Agriculture will also issue permanent protections for farmers against potentially discriminatory processing practices.
The announcements and meeting are part of Biden’s ongoing crusade against corporate pricing practices he believes are unfair. The White House believes they directly contribute to the public perception that the economy is doing poorly, despite data objectively showing a strong American economy.
“The competition council and its members have worked to reduce costs on everything from hearing aids to asthma inhalers to Epi pens to air travel,” Brainard said.
Lael Brainard, vice chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during an interview in Washington, DC, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
However, questions remain about what actions regulators have the legal authority to take to address companies that exercise their pricing power more aggressively than others.
“There are dozens of statutes in place across all of these agencies that can, in certain situations, be enforced where high prices harm consumers,” a senior administration official said on Monday’s call. “And it depends on how and when.”
Biden pointed to what he calls “price gouging” and “shrinkflation” as two examples of corporate pricing strategies that keep profits high, even as wholesale and transportation costs fall.
But two months into the election year, the narrative of a strong economy may finally be taking hold among voters who have so far given Biden no credit for the economy’s soft landing. Instead, they blamed it for the high post-pandemic cost of living.
Four new polls released over the weekend showed signs of growing economic optimism among respondents.
Nonetheless, polls still showed Biden trailing his likely November opponent, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump, in a hypothetical head-to-head general election.