New Expert Brief Details the Enduring Power of U.S. Antitrust Laws for Confronting Today’s Monopolies
Washington, D.C., October 22, 2025 — The Open Markets Institute today released a new expert brief outlining how the White House, state attorneys general, and even individual litigants can wield longstanding federal antitrust laws to reduce prices, lower rents, boost wages, expand consumer choice, and help small businesses. The Enduring Force of the Federal Antitrust Laws, authored by senior legal analyst Daniel Hanley, lays out the most effective strategies to challenge unfair practices and curb corporate domination under current federal laws.
"Federal antitrust laws still have a lot of teeth, what’s needed are enforcers with the courage to take on those corporations that are jacking up rents, driving down wages, increasing prices, and squeezing out small businesses," said Daniel Hanley, senior legal analyst at the Open Markets Institute. “Despite decades of judicial hostility, those willing to stand up to unfair practices can still win major victories. Many of these laws have been on the books for over a century, and despite profound judicial hostility since the 1970s, they still have the power to combat the unfair practices that corporations are deploying today to choke competition and expand their dominance."
Providing a detailed overview of the law, the brief shows how enforcers can initiate lawsuits to successfully tackle seven of today’s most common unfair market practices, including mergers, tying arrangements, exclusive deals, price- and wage-fixing, unfair seller discrimination, and interlocking directorates (where the same people sit on the boards of competing companies).
Top six recommendations:
Fight back against the wave of corporate mergers raising prices and killing competition;
Crack down on companies locking consumers into their products and services;
End big business exclusivity deals that shut out small businesses;
Prosecute price-fixing and wage-fixing aggressively, including new, algorithmic price-fixing;
Ensure Walmart and Amazon are paying the same prices as small retailers;
Block the individuals from serving on the boards of competing corporations.