Ag Groups Revolt Against EVs | FTC’s Approach to Unfair Trade

Ag Groups Revolt Against EVs | FTC's Approach to Unfair Trade

Ag Interest Groups Challenge Electric Vehicle Use

Various Ag Interest Groups have joined with Petroleum Groups in a court challenge to EPA’s final rule setting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for 2023-2026 model year cars and trucks. According to a recent article in DTN Progressive Farmer, EPA’s action exceeded its authority by effectively mandating a transition to electric vehicles to achieve GHG reduction goals, while ignoring alternative technologies such as low-carbon, ethanol-based fuels. Ag and Fuel proponents have argued that the Agency’s actions are an effort to transform the U.S. transportation fleet and fuel infrastructure which would have major impacts on automobiles, oil & gas industries, and the electric grid — a transformation that Congress did not authorize. You can read more here.


Federal Trade Commission Revives Federal Law Banning Unfair Competition

On Thursday the Federal Trade Commission announced that it is restoring “rigorous enforcement” of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act which includes a prohibition on “unfair methods of competition.” According to the FTC’s statement, the FTC Act was intended by Congress to reach “beyond the Sherman and Clayton Acts to encompass various types of unfair conduct that tend to negatively affect competitive conditions.” The statement indicated that Congress intended the FTC to stop anticompetitive practices in their “incipiency,” before they have ripened into monopolistic power. Thus, the FTC indicated that unfair methods of competition which are outlawed under the Act need not necessarily show anticompetitive harm or intent in every case. The FTC’s recent lawsuit (joined by 10 States) against Corteva and Syngenta over the companies’ loyalty programs includes a claim for violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act and is an indication of the Agency’s how the Agency intends to enforce the prohibition on anticompetitive practices.

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