Rep. Duncan Leads Letter Expressing Concern over Foreign Regulatory Overreach

Washington, D.C.– On Monday, Congressman Duncan led a letter to the United States Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce expressing concern over foreign jurisdictions using competition policy to block U.S. companies’ acquisitions, all in cases where U.S. antitrust agencies have declined to intervene.

“The last year has seen a marked increase in U.S.-based companies doing business principally in the United States being mired in investigations and enforcement actions by foreign antitrust agencies, in many cases where the U.S. antitrust agencies determined the transactions passed competition muster, and in some cases did not even warrant investigation,” the letter read.

“The USTR and the Department of Commerce should take action to deter foreign governments from targeting U.S. businesses on spurious grounds, specifically  in industries where the United States is a global leader. Such actions may merit investigation under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which authorizes the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to investigate foreign government measures that are ‘unjustifiable’ or ‘unreasonable’ and ‘burden or restrict U.S. commerce,’” said Congressman Jeff Duncan. “It is imperative for us to safeguard American economic sovereignty and security, especially as we have seen a rise in U.S. companies being targeted by foreign antitrust agencies. We urge the USTR and Department of Commerce to use their authority to address this unjustifiable and unreasonable overreach imposed on American companies by unaccountable bureaucrats in other countries.”

“It is becoming sadly more common for foreign antitrust regulators to pursue needless enforcement actions and investigations against U.S.-based companies, based on tenuous theories of harm to their domestic economies,” said CEI Vice President for Strategy and Senior Fellow Iain Murray. “This not only harms U.S. competition and innovation, but undermines the very essence of global free enterprise. It is worse when these actions are undertaken by foreign bureaucrats without the due process American companies expect and deserve. If left unchecked, foreign bureaucrats will harm American businesses and jeopardize American jobs. Rep. Duncan’s leadership on this problem will help bring further attention to this important issue and should compel the Department of Commerce and the Office of the Trade Representative to take this threat more seriously.”

Background: In the United States, there is Congressional oversight of the Department of Justice antitrust division and of the Federal Trade Commission, the two regulatory bodies that manage business mergers. However, many foreign jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom’s Competitive Markets Authority (CMA), lack formal oversight in this area. Instead, decisions are made by unelected bureaucrats who are generally unaccountable to both elected representatives and the courts.

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