Dramatic resignation puts the US FTC’s leadership at centerstage

MLex Market Insight

News

4.9 • 9 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2023

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the first of a three-part podcast series about the US Federal Trade Commission, the MLex panel discusses the high-profile clashes at the very top of the agency. The antitrust world was rocked recently about the very noisy resignation of Commissioner Christine Wilson. Today’s program examines the extent to which the criticisms leveled by Wilson at FTC Chair Lina Khan go beyond the normal cut-and-thrust of US political divisions.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, welcome back. This is MLEX's weekly podcast. My name is James Panicki, Asia Pacific Senior Editor here at Emlex, and it's great to be with you today.
0:19.4	We're doing things a little differently this week
0:21.2	with a cluster of three podcasts of which this is the first. The other two will follow in coming
0:26.7	days. Three podcasts, but a central theme, the United States Federal Trade Commission. The FTC has
0:33.0	been in the news for different reasons over the past weeks, and these podcasts are going to look into
0:37.8	different aspects of the agency's operations, starting from the top and the FTC's well-publicised
0:44.5	internal divisions. This is more than whispers in the corridors. The FTC's sole remaining
0:50.4	Republican Commissioner, Christine Wilson, announced her resignation recently and accompanied
0:55.5	that with a scathing assessment of the FTC that was published in the Wall Street Journal.
1:01.2	Of course, there's a political dimension to all of this. Unlike regulators in other jurisdictions
1:06.2	around the world, which are essentially non-political, the FDC's leadership reflects the political identity
1:12.0	of the Biden administration. Even so, FTC Chair Lena Khan is coming under significant pressure
1:18.6	at the moment. So what does it all mean? Well, to discuss it, I'm joined today by Claude Marks,
1:24.4	a correspondent with Emmex's sister publication FTC watch in Washington, D.C.
1:29.3	And Cuchita Vassant, our chief antitrust correspondent for the US, who is also based in DC.
1:36.3	So, Claude, firstly, why is this division at the FTC in Wilson's high-profile resignation
1:43.3	different than most partisan divides that we see at the FTC and Wilson's high-profile resignation, different than most partisan divides that we see
1:46.9	at the agency? Because usually when the commissioners are of different parties, and they're always
1:53.1	members of both parties on the commission, there are just disagreements about policy, but they
1:58.1	tended to get along reasonably well.
2:01.6	They worked well together and they've worked and they've worked collusually on stuff or so,
2:06.6	even if they disagree on particular points.
	...

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