FTC Chair Lina Khan sees parallels in Kamala Harris’s record and the regulator’s work

Now with the presidential marketing campaign in its closing weeks, the election’s consequence and the potential affect on the financial system are prime of thoughts.

In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Occasions that was revealed on Saturday, Khan seemed again on her tenure and was requested about what might occur if Kamala Harris wins the election.

Concerning the race for the White Home, Khan was pressed on whether or not she worries her work may get reduce quick, given doubts about whether or not she may keep on within the subsequent administration.

“I can’t predict what’s going to occur in November, or after that,” she replied.

Then she was requested if she has gotten any indication that she wouldn’t be needed in a Harris administration.

“No, I believe on the contrary,” Khan mentioned. “We’ve seen the vp be aware how she has been a prosecutor taking over unlawful practices by companies that had been harming owners, that had been harming sufferers, and that’s the work the FTC does as properly.”

The Harris marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Some billionaire donors to the Harris marketing campaign have reportedly urged her to dump Khan and SEC Chair Gary Gensler if she wins in November.

For its half, one other Trump administration can also look unfavorably on mega-mergers, particularly within the tech sector. Donald Trump’s working mate, Sen. JD Vance, has voiced help for Khan prior to now.

“I don’t agree with Lina Khan on each concern, to be clear, however I believe that she’s been very good about attempting to go after a few of these massive tech firms that monopolize what we’re allowed to say in our personal nation,” he mentioned on CBS final month.

Whereas Khan technically reached the top of her three-year time period on Wednesday, she will maintain serving within the position till a alternative takes over.

Earlier within the Q&A with the Occasions, she took inventory of her file and mentioned the FTC has “racked up numerous wins,” together with a courtroom victory in a vertical merger case and a ruling in a consumer-privacy case towards a knowledge dealer.

She additionally expressed skepticism concerning the argument {that a} bigger firm’s acquisition of a smaller firm can convey extra efficiencies to the market by pairing ample monetary assets with new improvements.

Such efficiencies usually don’t materialize, Khan mentioned, including that even after they do, firms don’t move them on to customers if there isn’t sufficient competitors out there.

That begged the query of whether or not the post-pandemic inflation surge was fueled partially by business consolidation and anticompetitive practices.

“For those who’re not imposing antitrust, you’re permitting a long time of consolidation that may create inflationary spikes extra readily, as a result of your system as a complete is much less resilient to that disruption,” Khan mentioned. “Second, a extra concentrated market, when you will have fewer gamers, is extra simply going to have the ability to coordinate to hike costs or to maintain costs excessive.”