Thu, 12 Feb 2026

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 US antitrust chief resigns amid tensions with Trump officials

The departure of Gail Slater has raised questions about the White House's approach to policing big mergers and monopolies.

* Gail Slater, head of US antitrust division, has stepped down
* Her resignation sparks alarm among critics who say it's a sign the White House is backing away from anti-monopoly enforcement
* Slater had received bipartisan support at her Senate confirmation last year and was working on lawsuits against major firms including Live Nation, Visa and Apple
* The turbulence in the unit has raised questions about the fate of those cases and sparked alarm among some antitrust practitioners, lawmakers and former officials
* Critics say senior Trump DOJ officials have overruled leaders at the antitrust division on enforcement decisions, accused of taking a softer approach to policing corporate mergers under the influence of lobbyists
* The tensions between antitrust officials and higher-ups at the Justice Department started to emerge publicly last summer when the department dropped a lawsuit challenging a $14bn takeover of Juniper Networks by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise after the companies appealed to top officials at the DOJ.
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