The Federal Trade Commission headed by Republican appointees from President Donald Trump has dropped an important case against PepsiCo that alleged the beverage company broke antitrust rules by giving Walmart unfair pricing advantages.
The Democratic-led FTC launched this case in January before Trump took office through the 1936 Robinson-Patman Act which protects competition by prohibiting discriminatory pricing practices. The lawsuit accused PepsiCo of providing promotional discounts exclusively to Walmart which harmed both competitors and consumers.
The Republican members of the FTC exercised their majority to discontinue the case during a voting session on Thursday. According to Trump-appointed FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson the lawsuit served no purpose except to be called “dubious partisan stunt” while the agency should focus on different matters. Ferguson declared in his statement that there are more significant issues which require attention instead of using resources to pursue outdated laws targeting established retail partnerships.
The Trump administration’s FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson declared a different approach than the previous Biden administration leadership under Lina Khan who aggressively enforced antitrust regulations across tech and consumer goods industries. Khan and Democratic commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter backed the case because they believed consumer markets were experiencing growing problems with consolidation and power imbalances.
The two commissioners faced dismissal from their positions in March after Trump regained power but they launched legal action against the administration claiming their removal was illegal. The dismissal of this lawsuit has raised doubts about how the Trump administration plans to handle antitrust enforcement in the United States.
PepsiCo did not provide any immediate response to the news but maintained its earlier position which stated its pricing practices followed the law while matching market conditions.
The FTC’s decision to drop the case will most likely deter future antitrust investigations because the political and legal environment regarding the Robinson-Patman Act remains uncertain. The case demonstrates how partisanship affects regulatory limits on corporate power and the debate about reviving outdated laws in modern business environments.
