Trump takes it easy on Big Tech
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Trump 2.0 is taking it easy on Big Tech, despite some forecasts that he would wield an antitrust anvil.
Why it matters: The slackness is sparking a wave of large U.S. tech mergers, with dollar volume up 52% from this time last year.
- Not only by incumbents, but also by deep-pocketed AI unicorns.
By the numbers: The current Trump administration has brought only one antitrust case against a tech merger, when just days after the inauguration it sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise from buying Juniper Networks for $14 billion.
- The case was later settled, in part to satisfy national security concerns, which has raised some questions of its own.
- Trump antitrust officials also have required divestitures to approve a handful of other tech deals.
The big picture: There's almost always a partisan split when it comes to antitrust enforcement: Republicans have a lighter touch than Democrats.
- But Trump has a historical animus toward Big Tech, and Vice President Vance regularly lauded Lina Khan — Biden's FTC chair and a giant thorn in Silicon Valley's side.
- Trump 1.0 also brought several major antitrust actions against Big Tech, including one against Google.
Zoom in: The Google situation seems instructive.
- DOJ won the case, which crossed over the Biden and Trump administrations, although a judge last week didn't accept the government's recommendation that the search giant divest its Chrome browser.
- At a White House dinner last week, Trump said to Google CEO Sundar Pichai: "Biden was the one who prosecuted that lawsuit, you know that right?"
- Both Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 prosecuted the case, as did Biden. But Pichai didn't correct Trump. No need to anger someone who wants to be considered a friend.
Zoom out: There was some appropriate skepticism that the left/right coalition on Big Tech antitrust would hold.
Caveat: It can take new White Houses time to get their footing, so there's still a chance of Big Tech antitrust cases to come. Consider this an early indication rather than a summation.
The bottom line: Trump's full-throated embrace of domestic AI development, and desire to best China, is making it a lot less convenient to demonize Big Tech.
- That said, expect House Republicans and regulators to still needle Silicon Valley on speech and content complaints.
