Automaker Antitrust Investigation Is Trumpian Revenge
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Note: Today, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly launched an antitrust investigation into four automakers that forged an independent agreement with California on vehicle emissions standards.
This is as blatantly retaliatory as President Donald Trump’s Sharpie-edited Hurricane Dorian map was phony.
The Trump administration is hellbent on repealing the clean car standards, which was the most significant U.S. governmental action program to date to avert climate change and would save consumers tens of billions if left intact.
In an economy increasingly characterized by monopoly, oligopoly and anti-competitive conduct, it’s utterly implausible that Trump’s DOJ is devoting resources to investigating a clean vehicles initiative out of concern for promoting market competition.
The antitrust laws were never intended to promote competition in more pollution.