Federal Trade Commission Calls Chamber of Commerce 'Left-Wing'—Because It Opposes Onerous Regulations

So now it’s radical to be against Biden-era merger notification requirements?

What would you call a group that opposes burdensome business regulations? If you're the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), you might just label it a "left-wing…activist group." In fact, that's exactly what an FTC spokesperson called the Chamber of Commerce recently, after the Chamber won its lawsuit against an onerous President Joe Biden–era rule.

The accusation comes hot off the heels of federal Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle's order vacating the rule and the changes it made to the FTC's premerger notification form, which went into effect last February. Kernodle determined that the rule exceeded the agency's authority by failing to show that its "claimed benefits will 'reasonably outweigh' its significant and widespread costs.'"

The FTC's original form was promulgated in 1978 under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act (1976), which required "companies to file premerger notifications" and established "waiting periods that must elapse before such acquisitions may be consummated and authorize[d] the enforcement agencies to stay those periods." Specifically, the HSR form required the acquirer to disclose the assets to be acquired and their value; official financial statements; revenue, shareholder, and geographic market information; and other recent acquisitions.

Forty-six years later, the FTC and the Justice Department's Antitrust Division finalized major changes to the HSR form, which the Justice Department claimed would help streamline the merger review process. Likewise, Biden's FTC, chaired by notorious neo-Brandeisian Lina Khan, described the rule as "reduc[ing] the current burden on third parties, including small businesses."

The Chamber, which represents more than 3 million businesses—96 percent of which employ 100 employees or fewer—did not share the antitrust regulators' optimistic appraisal. It filed suit the day that the new HSR form was implemented, arguing it unjustifiably burdened businesses by requiring a written explanation of the rationale behind the merger and by greatly expanding the number of ordinary documents and transaction-related drafts required for submission. 

Indeed, the FTC itself estimated that the updated form would increase the average filing time from 37 hours to 105 hours. In its complaint, the Chamber of Commerce wrote that the "total direct compliance costs of the Rule alone for American businesses will be $250 million annually." A September 2025 survey of 27 antitrust attorneys conducted by the Chamber found that the updated form costs an additional $50,000 to $150,000 and roughly 60 more hours to complete. (Given that there are approximately "2,000 HSR-reportable transactions a year," this means the new rule has added $100 million to $300 million in compliance costs.) Only three of the respondents answered that the new form had improved the timeliness of the review process.

It's initially unclear how opposing costly bureaucratic hurdles could possibly be considered "left-wing." But it makes perfect sense in the context of the Trump administration: President Donald Trump has laid bare the modern right's hostility to free market capitalism by taxing imports (and exports), despite the harm to small businesses, American workers, and consumers. Meanwhile, Trump's FTC has harassed successful companies, chilled freedom of speech, undermined donor privacy, and assailed efficient business practices. FTC Chair Andrew N. Ferguson even voted for Khan's updated HSR notification requirements in 2024.

It would appear that Ferguson still supports the expensive and invasive requirements: On Wednesday, he appealed Kernodle's decision to the 5th Circuit. Unless the appellate court grants Ferguson's request for a stay, the HSR form will revert to its pre-Khan version as soon as next week.