Scoop: Trump FTC tells CEOs when agency will get "out of the way" on M&A
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President Trump's new FTC chair Andrew Ferguson told a group of big business CEOs on Tuesday that he wouldn't let proposed deals "die on the vine," but warned them not to expect automatic approval for big mergers.
Why it matters: Ferguson is explaining the Trump administration's approach to M&A, giving fresh guidance to the group it will need to help bolster the economy and usher in a new age of prosperity.
- "If we think conduct or merger is going to hurt Americans economically, I'm taking you to court," Ferguson told a gathering of Yale's CEO Caucus in Washington on Tuesday morning, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by Axios.
- "But if we don't, we'll get the hell out of the way," he said in the closed-door meeting, which included JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs' David Solomon and Dell's Michael Dell.
- "But I want to be really clear about something. This isn't the Bush administration."
A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment.
Zoom out: Bankers, dealmakers and CEOs are looking for clarity from Ferguson on how he will deviate, if at all, from the strict scrutiny that former FTC chair Lina Khan pursued under President Biden.
- Last month, the FTC announced that it would keep the Biden administration's merger guidelines in place, raising concerns in the business and banking community that Trump's White House might be more hostile to big mergers than they would have preferred.
Driving the news: Before a range of CEOs, including those from Edison International, Gap, Motorola Solutions and Pfizer, Ferguson explained the approach he will take towards reviewing mergers.
- "We are in this catastrophic, dangerous debt crisis, and the only way out is not just cutting government spending, it is creating an innovative and vibrant economy for all," he said.
- "The last thing we want are monopolies (that) slow innovation, slow growth and injure American consumers."
- "But we also don't want regulators who slow down the process."
Zoom in: Ferguson took a detour from traditional M&A talk to explain to his audience the anger many conservatives feel towards big business.
- He recalled his time working for former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2020, when he would receive calls from the business community on social issues.
- "Hey, cops are racist. Congress should do something about police reform. I sat there and said, 'Why are you all calling me about policing?'" he recounted.
- "And then I watched in 2020 businesses started to censor Americans because they wanted to talk about how masks weren't working, or ask questions about whether vaccines were effective," he said.
- "And for the first time, I really started to understand the real connection between large economic power and the transfer and leveraging of that power for social and political impact," he said.
Go deeper: The FTC under Trump made its first move to challenge private equity in health care last week, Axios Pro reported, suing to block the $627 million acquisition of a maker of specialized coatings for catheters and other medical devices.
