WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are pushing the Donald Trump administration to lower food prices through tougher antitrust enforcement and a clampdown on so-called surveillance pricing by retailers.
Democrats led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) are asking the Federal Trade Commission to restart an investigation begun during the Joe Biden administration into companies showing online customers different prices based on data such as their internet browsing history.
The Trump administration fired Biden FTC Chair Lina Khan last year and shut down an investigation into both brick-and-mortar and online retailers setting prices based on personal data from middlemen peddling algorithms and artificial intelligence tools.
“The FTC should reopen its investigation into surveillance pricing and pursue rulemaking and enforcement actions to address exploitative surveillance and dynamic pricing practices,” the Democrats said in a letter to the FTC and the Justice Department, in which they urged the agencies to block food industry mergers and consider breaking up big companies.
Spokespeople for the departments did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
