As 2026 begins, US enforcers are reshaping merger review processes and priorities, providing a glimpse into trends for the year ahead. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) approved several transactions with public settlements, signaling the agencies’ openness to negotiating settlements. This approach distinguishes the Trump antitrust agencies from the Biden administration’s general oppositions to settlements. Several other Trump 2.0-era trends are crystalizing, with FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson confirming his interest in having federal courts resolve the merits of the FTC’s merger challenges without utilizing the agency’s Part III administrative process. Political interference from the White House and senior DOJ officials influenced the DOJ’s merger review process in several highly scrutinized cases. Finally, the FTC’s expanded and more burdensome Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) filing process has been upended after a Texas district court vacated the new HSR form, an order which the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declined to pause as the FTC appeals.
Merger control in Europe is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, as regulators look to change traditional competition tools and adapt to new economic and geopolitical realities. In the European Union (EU), enforcement is increasingly shaped by innovation policy, sustainability objectives, and concerns about global competitiveness. The European Commission is advancing major updates to its merger guidelines under the EU Merger Regulation and placing greater emphasis on dynamic market analysis, long-term innovation effects, and broader efficiency considerations. At the same time, new instruments such as the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act and the two-year old Foreign Subsidies Regulation expand the policy toolkit to address state-backed investments and strategic industrial capacity. Recent enforcement actions illustrate how merger control now intersects with data access concerns, innovation ecosystems, and foreign state support.
In parallel, the United Kingdom is reshaping its merger regime through structural reforms to the Competition and Markets Authority, operational initiatives aimed at faster and more predictable reviews, and new cross-border cooperation mechanisms with EU authorities. These developments also reflect a broader policy objective of strengthening investment attractiveness while maintaining robust competition oversight. Together, these changes signal a more policy-integrated and Europe-coordinated approach to merger enforcement.
