Trump’s FTC Chairman Is Becoming the MAGA Answer to Lina Khan

To American business leaders who hoped that Donald Trump’s return to the White House would immediately usher in an era of unfettered deal-making, Andrew Ferguson seemed like a cold shower.

In early meetings with CEOs, congressional testimony and public statements, Trump’s head of the Federal Trade Commission echoed the tough-cop messaging of his controversial predecessor Lina Khan: If corporate conduct or a proposed merger would hurt Americans, he would say, “I’m taking you to court.”

The 39-year-old stood behind new Biden-era merger guidelines. He’s kept aggressive cases against Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. and continued the previous administration’s investigation ...