Trade Disputes Don't Seem to Be Affecting Foreign Antitrust Actions, DOJ Official Says
A top DOJ lawyer doesn't think trade disputes between countries are affecting foreign nations' antitrust enforcement actions. But "there may be one or two examples on the margins that I can’t talk about," said Deputy Assistant Attorney General-International Affairs Roger…
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Alford at a Technology Policy Institute conference in Aspen. George Mason University Global Antitrust Institute Executive Director Joshua Wright, a former commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission, hopes Alford is correct about no interference. The FTC should continue to "keep trade out of this stuff so we can speak bilaterally with the 130 agencies around the world" that also deal with antitrust, he said of his old agency. "When one of those agencies has a substantial deviation" from norms, rely not on trade sanctions but "community sanctions," he recommended. "You rarely see U.S. agencies discussing substance of decisions with foreign nations." When a case gets differing rulings from agencies in various countries, he thinks U.S. antitrust enforcers could make public some results. "Show people and the deviation will speak for itself, and you let people decide how to interpret the evidence," Wright continued. "It has a salutary international impact."