The Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed merger guidelines will ensure open and fair competition, the leaders of the FTC and DOJ’s antitrust division said Thursday in defense of the proposal.
“At the end of the day, which mergers go through and which ones do not can be hugely consequential for people’s lives,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said at a virtual event hosted by the American Economic Liberties Project, which advocates for strong antitrust enforcement. “In a day-to-day sense, it can mean that whereas you previously had to drive five miles to access a hospital now, after a merger, you might have to instead drive 50 miles.”
