• As vice president, Harris has prioritized forging relationships with foreign leaders. She has also become involved with the U.S. State Department and attended high-profile events with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Moreover, she has voiced her support for Ukraine as it continues to fight Russia. She has also reiterated the U.S’. commitment to the transatlantic NATO alliance with Europe.

• As part of the growing trade war with China under the current Administration, President Biden’s Administration announced its intent to raise tariffs on clean energy goods from China. In particular, Chinese EVs will face quadrupled tariffs. The action, according to the Administration, is a result of the U.S. Trade Representative’s four year review relating to Chinese unfair trade practices including forced technology transfer and restrictions and intellectual property theft. The White House also announced that the tariff rate will double to 50 percent on solar cell imports from China. In addition, Section 301 tariff will increase to 25 percent (triple the current level) on certain steel and aluminum imports from China.

• On March 28, 2024, the Department of State announced a partnership with the Government of Mexico to explore diversification of the global semiconductor ecosystem under the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund created under the CHIPS Act of 2022. Initial stages included a comprehensive assessment of Mexico’s existing semiconductor ecosystem and regulatory framework, as well as workforce and infrastructure needs.
• The CHIPS Act was signed into law on August 9, 2023. The Act, which among other things, provides billions of dollars of federal financial assistance to semiconductor companies to construct, expand, and modernize semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the United States. We anticipate an impact on both the domestic industry and importation requirements in Section 337 investigations at the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
• Beyond its impact on ITC investigations, the CHIPS Act will make it more difficult for semiconductor companies to invest in China. Any semiconductor company that receives federal financial assistance under the CHIPS Act must notify the Department of Commerce (Commerce) of any significant transactions involving the material expansion of semiconductor manufacturing capacity in China. After reviewing the transaction, Commerce can either approve, mitigate, or block the transaction. In other words, much like how CFIUS currently reviews inbound foreign direct investment for national security risks and approves, mitigates, or blocks transactions, semiconductor companies will now have to negotiate an outbound investment screening process whenever they want to make certain investments in semiconductor manufacturing in China.

• The Biden Administration has placed a consistent and heavy focus on the robust enforcement of the antitrust laws. Early in his presidency, Joe Biden signed his “Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” announcing the “whole-of-government approach” to competition that has animated his presidency.
• One key feature of this approach has been heightened cooperation between government agencies to tackle alleged anti-competitive behavior. Another important facet of antitrust enforcement under the Biden Administration has been agencies’ willingness to overhaul longstanding enforcement policies. Sometimes conducted in tandem by different agencies, this push has included intensive reviews of longstanding antitrust policies, the cancellation or adjustment of various programs, including safe harbor and compliance programs, and the issuing of new rules, including new federal merger guidelines.
• During Joe Biden’s presidency, antitrust regulators have revived enforcement of long-dormant statutes. This has included charging criminal monopolization under Section 2 of the Sherman Act and conducting Robinson-Patman Act investigations.
• Biden-era antitrust regulation has focused especially on labor markets, large technology companies, pricing and consumer welfare, and the merger sector.
• Under the leadership of FTC Chair Lina Khan, who was nominated by President Biden in 2021, and others, expansive antitrust enforcement has been a key focus of the Biden Administration. President Biden even highlighted antitrust enforcement a few times in his recent State of the Union address. A second Biden Administration would surely feature continued emphasis on the regulation of perceived anti-competitive behaviors.

• The Biden Administration has repeatedly demonstrated that it places a high premium on protecting consumers from unfair and predatory pricing practices.
• Throughout the Biden presidency, antitrust regulators have attacked the drug industry over allegedly unfair pricing behaviors, with a mixed track record of success.
• During President Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address, he mentioned pricing-related efforts a few times, specifically mentioning his Administration’s commitment to combatting alleged price gouging, price-fixing, and “junk fees,” highlighting a variety of industries wherein he feels these problems loom particularly large.
• The Biden Administration recently announced the formation of a new strike force, run jointly by the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the DOJ, with a charge to focus on unfair and illegal pricing practices.

First, she made it clear that her Administration will strike a different path from that of President Biden’s. She has pledged to focus on addressing immigration and references continued efforts to prosecute the Mexican cartels – particularly with respect to fentanyl distribution.

Also of note from a national security perspective was her focus on Iran as a significant threat to national security and her unwavering support for Israel. Separately, she had indicated continued support for the Ukraine. One would expect that this translated to continued coalition style sanctions on the Russian Federation, continued focus on the Price Cap, and additional military and financial support for the Ukraine.

While not addressed during the interview, a review of Vice President Harris’ website provides additional insight into her foreign policy objectives. She highlights China and a need to continue to develop Indo Pacific economic and security partnerships. She also highlighted the importance of the relationship with South Korea – particularly in addressing the risks posed by North Korea. While there are not specifics on what those commitments would be mean from a regulatory perspective, one would presume a consistent approach to that under the Biden Administration with respect regional pacts and U.S. unilateral sanctions.

On the domestic front, Vice President Harris addressed her focus on supporting small business and increasing affordable housing. From her campaign website, she provides more details on her plans to address lower income housing needs. She states:

Vice President Harris has put forward a comprehensive plan to build three million more rental units and homes that are affordable to end the national housing supply crisis in her first term. And she will cut red tape to make sure we build more housing faster and penalize firms that hoard available homes to drive up prices for local homebuyers. Vice President Harris knows rent is too high and will sign legislation to outlaw new forms of price fixing by corporate landlords.

In addressing small business support, her website explains that as part of her Opportunity Economy agenda, she has a goal of 25 million new business applications by the end of her first term. To help achieve this, she proposes expanding the startup expense tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $50,000.

• In response to the Biden Administration’s May 14, 2024 announcement that increases tariffs on Chinese EVs, the Trump campaign has announced an intent to impose a 200 percent tax on every car that comes from Chinese manufacturing facilities in Mexico. The focus on Mexican manufacturing facilities arises from Chinese automaker BYD’s scouting trip to Mexico to identify locations for factories. The move is designed to avoid import tariffs that apply where cars are manufactured in China.

• A second Trump Administration will likely again exit the Paris Climate Accords. 

• As noted, the Biden Administration has made pricing practices a major focus of its antitrust enforcement efforts. Antitrust regulators have fought against price-fixing, “junk fees,” and various other arguably unfair and illegal pricing practices.
• Pricing practices likely would not be a priority for antitrust regulators under a second Trump Administration. Under the Trump Administration, agencies like the DOJ and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were less focused on pricing-related consumer protection efforts than the Biden Administration has been. Moreover, during the Biden Administration, some Republicans have expressed strong opposition to the Administration’s efforts in this sphere. For example, in 2022, then-FTC Commissioner Christine S. Wilson, a Trump appointee, dissented from an FTC Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding junk fees. Similarly, Senator Tim Scott recently came out against CFPB rules limiting credit card fees.
• Under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan, the FTC has been highly activist. Though some of the FTC’s actions have drawn support from certain congressional Republicans, including key Trump allies like Representative Matt Gaetz, the Khan FTC has overall been the subject of a great deal of conservative criticism, concern, and opposition.
• For example, in 2021, shortly after Lina Khan became FTC Chair, a group of Republican legislators sent a letter and issued public statements criticizing the FTC for overreaching, diverging from the DOJ, and pushing a “leftist” agenda. In late 2022, the House Judiciary Committee began looking into the FTC’s probe of Twitter, and in 2023, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the FTC for documents related to their Twitter investigation and called FTC Chair Lina Khan before the Committee for hours of questioning. In that and other congressional sessions over the past couple of years, various Republican legislators have broadly criticized the policies of the Khan FTC. In 2023, when Republican FTC Commissioner Christine S. Wilson left the FTC, she criticized Lina Khan’s policies in an op-ed and a letter.
• Relatedly, the funding of the federal antitrust enforcement agencies has become an issue. In summer 2023, congressional Republicans threatened to cut the FTC’s budget by 25% due to its alleged “rank partisanship.” The agencies and President Biden have requested budget increases for 2025, even as Democratic pro-budget-increase legislators have raised the alarm about potential looming antitrust enforcement budget cuts.
• It seems certain that a second Trump Administration would feature a less activist antitrust enforcement agenda, and that the FTC would walk back some of the actions it has taken under Chair Lina Khan. The FTC’s policies under a second Trump Administration will presumably depend largely upon who is chosen to lead the agency—and, potentially, on whether that individual is someone who trends more toward the populist segment of Donald Trump’s political base or more toward the more traditional pro-business segment of that base. If Donald Trump is elected, then, based on historical norms, at least one of the three current Democratic FTC commissioners will resign, allowing for a majority of Republican FTC commissioners.