Joe Biden has announced a “strike force” to crack down on “unfair and illegal” prices as consumers continue to grapple with high costs ahead of November’s election.
The new panel will target businesses “when they try to rip off Americans”, the Biden administration said.
The announcement comes as millions of Americans continue to grapple with higher prices in the wake of inflation’s surge to its highest level in a generation two summers ago. While price growth has since faded significantly, many are still feeling the pinch.
Lael Brainard, director of the national economic council, said: “Even as prices have come down on important items like a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, some corporations aren’t passing those savings on to consumers. Instead, some corporations are tacking on extra fees, hiding costs and sometimes even breaking the law.”
Biden is “fed up with corporate practices that unfairly raise costs for consumers” Brainard added, “and he’s taking action”.
The Biden administration has consistently criticized industry monopolies in the US, where a handful of companies now dominate industries including airlines, auto manufacture, groceries and health insurance.
In 2021 – the first year of his presidency – Biden signed an executive order to promote competition that argued “as industries have consolidated, competition has weakened in too many markets”. Agencies across the federal government have taken a tougher stance on mergers with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice seeking to block those – such as JetBlue’s deal with Spirit Airlines – that they conclude would harm competition.
On Tuesday the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will finalize a rule designed to cut “out of control” late credit card fees. It hopes the move will bring the average fee of about $32 down to $8, which the Biden administration claims will save $220 a year for more than 45 million people who are charged such fees annually.
“Almost all of the credit card giants have been hiking these fees every year using automatic inflation adjustments as an excuse,” said Rohit Chopra, director of the CFPB. The new rule covers the largest card issuers.
The “strike force”, led by the FTC and justice department, has been established to encourage relevant federal agencies to share more data and work together to target businesses breaking the law and keeping prices high.
