On Friday, July 9, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order (“Order”) entitled “Promoting Competition in the American Economy.” The Order outlines 72 actions by 12 federal agencies aimed at promoting competition throughout the U.S. economy and providing small businesses an opportunity to compete against dominant market actors.

The motivation behind the executive action, according to the Order, is to enhance competition in what President Biden believes is “excessive market concentration [which] threatens basic economic liberties, democratic accountability and the welfare of workers, farmers, small businesses, startups and consumers. Such concentration, it says, has reduced employee wages and working conditions, made success difficult for small farmers, allowed information technology platforms to exclude market entrants, increased the cost of health care options, increased broadband costs and generally reduced innovation.