You might have seen a recent piece of news about a Trump executive order revoking Biden’s Executive Order 14036. Signed in 2021, that order was the foundation of a whopping 72 initiatives aimed at reinvigorating competition, lowering prices, reining in corporate abuses, and strengthening antitrust enforcement.
Let’s set the scene for the now-revoked order. In July 2021, the United States was slowly reopening following the pandemic-era lockdowns. Americans struggled to afford day-to-day expenses: the 2021 inflation rate was at 7%, the highest since 1981. The unemployment rate was slowly stabilizing after reaching 14.8% in April 2020. An estimated 200,000 businesses were forced to close their doors permanently.
All of that called for drastic action, and this executive order was one. As part of Biden’s antitrust policies that marked his presidency, it established a whole-of-government effort to promote competition. Here’s what you should know about its provisions and impact.
Key Provisions of the Executive Order 14036
Back when it was signed, this executive order was frequently called “sweeping.” That’s an apt description: the Biden competition executive order set the stage for a total of 72 initiatives. Their overarching goal? Tackling competition problems and strengthening antitrust enforcement.
This order was essentially a set of directions for multiple federal agencies, from the CFBP and FCC to the FTC and USDA. To keep track of the progress, the order also established the White House Competition Council, which met a total of six times.
These initiatives focused on:
- Labor markets: Limiting or banning non-compete agreements and unnecessary occupational licensing requirements
- Healthcare: Combating high prescription drug prices and price gouging; allowing over-the-counter sale of hearing aids
- Transportation: Issuing rules on clear fee disclosures and refund obligations for airlines
- Agriculture: Protecting chicken farmers from exploitation by chicken processors; limiting manufacturers’ restrictions on repairing farming equipment independently
- Internet service: Promoting price and subscription rate transparency; limiting excessive early termination fees; restoring net neutrality rules
- Technology: Preventing killer acquisitions; reining in sensitive data collection and storage; setting the framework for the right to repair for consumers
- Banking and finance: Putting bank mergers under more scrutiny; enabling customers to download their banking data to facilitate switching banks
Antitrust Enforcement: Keeping Companies Accountable
It’s no secret that the American economy is becoming increasingly consolidated. Look no further than the number of airlines, internet service providers, or media companies operating in your area.
Mergers and acquisitions are largely to blame for this consolidation. When left unchecked, they allow corporations to effectively eliminate their competition. This creates monopolies or oligopolies that drive up prices, since consumers have no viable alternatives in a consolidated market. Collusion between employers, in turn, can allow them to suppress wages and benefits.
The Biden administration criticized previous administrations for their less-than-rigorous enforcement of the existing antitrust laws. These laws are the ones allowing federal agencies to scrutinize mergers and acquisitions, after all.
To strengthen the application of those antitrust laws, the executive order:
- Called on the DOJ and FTC to review past mergers and challenge the ones that may have harmed market competition
- Encouraged a special focus on mergers in four sectors: technology, healthcare, labor markets, and agriculture
- Directed attention to hospital mergers, acquisition of nascent competitors, serial mergers, and bank mergers and acquisitions that prompt rural closures
- Instructed the DOJ and agencies responsible for overseeing the banking sector to review guidelines on bank mergers
Measures to Protect Small Businesses & Farmers
The Biden administration also put into the spotlight the challenges small businesses have to navigate to access markets. On the one hand, the rate of new business formation was halved between the 1970s and 2020s. On the other hand, existing small businesses struggle to gain a fair return when accessing markets. These challenges are especially pronounced in agriculture, where large processing corporations and holdings get to dictate rules.
That’s why the order on promoting competition also focused on several ways to improve the livelihood of small business owners, including:
- Establishing rules to prevent Big Tech marketplace platforms from using their unfair advantage to stifle the reach of small businesses they compete with
- Enabling the Department of Agriculture to prevent abusive practices of meat processors that harm family farmers
- Developing standards and labels that help U.S. consumers quickly identify and purchase products that support fair treatment of farmers
- Supporting farmers' markets and other alternative food distribution systems
On top of that, the order also directed all federal agencies to give more consideration to small businesses when making procurement and spending decisions. This would effectively increase their revenue-making opportunities.
How This Executive Order Was Received
At the time, the signing of the executive order was met with praise from organizations defending consumer interests, consumers themselves, small business owners, and certain politicians. For example, Senator Elizabeth Warren commended the provisions of the order, [saying it took] “critical steps to protect consumers and workers.” This complex interplay of economic policy and political reaction is a classic topic you might encounter in a university course, and it's something our history essay writing service is well-equipped to analyze.
Of course, there were also some opponents to the order’s provisions. Some went on record to accuse the Biden administration of taking a “government-knows-best approach.” Others criticized the order as a means of consolidating government power and increasing regulation in the American economy.
That said, in the two years following the order’s signing, its provisions enabled a number of improvements in antitrust regulations and enforcement:
- Revised merger guidelines. Developed by the FTC and DOJ, they shifted focus from predicting a deal’s impact with certainty to assessing the risk for competition.
- Reinforced mandate for the FTC. The FTC had its mandate expanded, allowing it to pursue unfair competitive practices in telecommunications.
- USDA investments. The USDA invested $115 million to increase independent meat processing capacity and distributed $89 million in grants to farmers.
- ISP pricing transparency. The FCC implemented rules requiring providers to display full pricing information at the point of sale.
In Closing
This executive order was a strong starting point for promoting competition in the American economy and strengthening protections for workers and consumers alike. It set the stage for a more centralized, organized effort to combat anticompetitive practices. It also gave federal agencies the mandate they needed to scrutinize corporate activities.
While consumers could benefit from its provisions for several years, the order has effectively become undone with Trump’s recent revocation. Done in the name of “ushering in a Golden Age of [...] prosperity,” the decision follows through with the administration’s focus on deregulation. Federal agencies previously mandated to keep a closer eye on anticompetitive practices are now finding themselves gutted, like the CFPB, whose workforce will be shrunk by 90%.