The stench of corporate corruption hangs thick over Washington this week, as the Federal Trade Commission—now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump-Vance kleptocracy—voted unanimously to deep-six a landmark antitrust case against PepsiCo, effectively giving Walmart and its billionaire cronies a free pass to keep gouging consumers and crushing small businesses under the jackboot of unchecked monopoly power.
This was no ordinary legal dismissal.
“This was a corporate coup, executed with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer to a grocery store’s front window,” said anti-establishment progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick. “The case, filed in the dying days of the Biden administration, accused Pepsi of violating the Robinson-Patman Act, a Depression-era law designed to stop big corporations from playing favorites with giant retailers like Walmart while squeezing mom-and-pop stores dry.”
In the hands of Trump’s newly installed FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson—a man whose idea of “fair competition” seems to be letting the biggest bullies steal everyone’s lunch money—the case was unceremoniously tossed into the dumpster, dismissed as a “partisan stunt” rather than what it really was: a rare attempt to enforce a law that Walmart and Amazon have spent decades rendering obsolete through sheer lobbying muscle.
Ferguson is a Republican who was nominated by President Joe Biden to serve as a member of the FTC in July 2023, between the time Trump was indicted on 37 federal criminal charges related to theft of classified government documents and when a four-count federal indictment charged the Republican with conspiracy to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Just months ago, under the leadership of Lina Khan, the FTC had finally dusted off the Robinson-Patman Act—a law that, despite being on the books since 1936, had been left to rot by both Republican and Democratic administrations that have been too cowardly to take on corporate price-fixing.
Khan called the dismissal of the case “a gift to giant retailers as they gear up to hike prices,” in a social media post.
On March 18, Trump fired Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, the FTC’s two Democratic commissioners.
The case against Pepsi was simple: the soda-and-snacks behemoth was allegedly showering Walmart with sweetheart deals—discounts, promotional kickbacks, under-the-table perks—while smaller stores got stuck paying higher wholesale prices than Walmart’s retail prices.
The result? A rigged game where small businesses either pay up or die, while Walmart laughs all the way to the bank.
But now, in a move so brazen it reeks of prearranged corporate surrender, Trump’s FTC has pulled the plug.
Ferguson, flanked by his fellow corporate yes-men, sneered that the case was nothing but a last-minute “political” hit job by the Biden team—as if enforcing antitrust law is some kind of dirty trick rather than the FTC’s actual goddamn job.
The Death of Fair Play—And the Rise of the Supermarket Cartel
What happened this month wasn’t just the death of one lawsuit.
It was the final nail in the coffin of the Robinson-Patman Act, a law that was once meant to protect small businesses from being steamrolled by chain-store Goliaths.
For 40 years, the FTC and DOJ have looked the other way as Walmart, Amazon, and their ilk strong-armed suppliers into giving them exclusive discounts, knowing full well that no one would stop them.
Now, with this dismissal, the message is clear: The fix is in.
Lee Hepner of the American Economic Liberties Project called it “a corporate pardon.”
“The Trump-Vance Administration continues to kick small businesses in the teeth,” said Hepner. “This meritless dismissal is a win for monopolists and billionaires, and a slap in the face to consumers struggling with high food prices and small businesses struggling with ever-shrinking margins.”
“Adding insult to injury, the agency dropped the case just one day before the parties were due to justify extensive redactions in the complaint, denying the public the ability to review the facts and judge the merits for themselves,” said Hepner. “This is a corporate pardon for Walmart and PepsiCo, and the Commission is betraying the public’s right to accountability for a well–pleaded case of price discrimination.”
A pardon, indeed—one delivered just one day before the FTC was supposed to justify its redactions in the case, ensuring the public would never get to see the full extent of the backroom dealing that made this farce possible.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t just about “fair competition” in some abstract, free-market fairy tale. This is about your grocery bill.
When Walmart strong-arms Pepsi into giving it secret discounts, who pays the difference? You do. When small stores get priced out of business, who loses choices? You do.
When the FTC—the agency supposed to stop this kind of thievery—instead rolls over and lets it happen, who gets screwed? You do.
“The FTC’s decision to dismiss the case against PepsiCo represents a fundamental abandonment of the commission’s responsibility to ensure a level playing field for small businesses,” said Stacy Mitchell, of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) and author of Big-Box Swindle (2006). “The Robinson-Patman Act (RPA) exists precisely to prevent large, dominant corporations from using their market power to squeeze out independent competitors through discriminatory deals. By walking away from this case, the FTC is green-lighting the very practices that are destroying main streets across America.”
The Robinson-Patman Act was never repealed. It was just ignored to death.
The FTC enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws, and has a bipartisan structure where no more than three of the five commissioners can come from the same party. Now, with only Trump’s corporate stooges running the show, it’s officially a dead letter.
The FTC had a chance to stand up for small businesses and consumers. Instead, it chose to stand with the billionaires.
Trump talks a good game on economic populism, but when the rubber meets the road, it’s perp walks with the full might of the state coming down on regular people compared to hugs and hall monitors for law-breaking behemoths.
The game was rigged from the start. And tonight, the house won.
Welcome to the United States of Walmart.