ICYMI: NEC Director Brian Deese Delivers Remarks on President Biden's Competition Agenda

In a speech to the Aspen Institute today, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese outlined the President's competition agenda and the importance of having an economic policy that promotes competition across industries, including agriculture, ocean-freight, tech sector and other major economic sectors. He highlighted actions Competition Council agencies have taken that will lower costs for Americans across the board—from making hearing aids more affordable to addressing high meat prices to working with Congress to lower ocean shipping prices. These actions are just the beginning and in the coming weeks, months, and years, the Council will continue working to foster competition across the economy.

"For President Biden, a strong competition policy is an indispensable part of an economic strategy for the twenty-first century," said Deese.

The speech also highlighted the urgency of passing the Bipartisan Innovation Act and the positive impacts of President Biden's Competition Council.

Read excerpts below:

White House: Brian Deese Remarks on President Biden's Competition Agenda
[Brian Deese, 7/14/22]

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For President Biden, a strong competition policy is an indispensable part of an economic strategy for the twenty-first century. He believes driving structural changes that promote competition across the economy holds the prospect of generating more innovation, productivity, and opportunity in America, while lowering prices for consumers and raising wages for workers.

For decades, the competitive attributes of our economy have been atrophying. Most industries have become less competitive. Both consumers and workers have been left with fewer options.

Reversing these trends is a significant task. It amounts to turning around the proverbial aircraft carrier. But now, one year in, we can begin to see the ship turning in the right direction. We've already delivered on many key promises, with more announcements coming soon. And under the direction of the President's executive order—and through our White House Competition Council—we are changing how the government approaches competition policy, and indeed economic policy. If done right, these changes will pay dividends for years to come as we continue the hard work of shifting course."

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"One year in, the Competition Council has spurred collaboration and cross-pollination between agencies. To take just one example, the Justice and Agriculture Departments together launched FarmerFairness.gov, a one-stop shop for reporting suspected legal violations in agriculture. Make no mistake, that's not just another website—it reflects an innovative approach to enforcement, where these two departments now review every complaint together to assess how to best deploy both sets of legal authorities.

The Competition Council has also successfully set priorities in critical areas that are particularly important to our economy, like ocean shipping. Competition and performance issues in ocean shipping have spillover effects across the economy, because many businesses rely on it to transport their goods.

The ocean-freight system is dominated by three global alliances. The impact has been stark: during the pandemic, the price of shipping a container rose more than 10-fold. We're proud that Congress answered President Biden's call to crack down on these price hikes and unfair practices by passing the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act—the most significant reform of ocean shipping rules in decades.

We're putting forward an array of other priorities, too—from opening up labor markets to fighting misleading pricing. Another key area is promoting competition in the tech sector, to give small businesses and startups a better chance to compete on a level playing field. That's why I want to reinforce our Administration's call for Congress to pass bipartisan tech antitrust legislation.

Finally, the Competition Council is helping embed competition thinking into agencies' operations. Our agencies are going beyond the executive order's immediate directives to new frontiers. The Transportation Department just issued rules to make our new, federally funded electric-vehicle charging network open and interoperable. That wasn't specified in the executive order, but thanks to the Competition Council's work, we recognized the risks and potential and took action."