Global antitrust enforcement in 2025 was both tough and balanced. The headline figure tells one story: total fines in the jurisdictions surveyed in our report rose again to USD 7.7 billion, the highest since 2021. But the underlying picture was more nuanced: the uptick in fines was driven by a few standout cases, and the total number of infringement decisions actually fell to 279 (down from 341 in 2024). We explore this contrast in the report—concluding that regulators are, on the whole, seeking to enforce rules more efficiently through “soft” enforcement tools and focusing resources on sectors that have direct economic and political impacts, with “hard” fines often reserved for select cases where it is deemed necessary to firmly signal deterrence, punish particularly egregious behavior or set an important legal precedent
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