July 10, 2025

Warren, DeLauro, Lawmakers Renew Push For FTC Action to Prevent Corporations From Using Trump’s Chaotic Tariffs as Cover to Price Gouge Americans

Federal Reserve “Beige Book” survey reveals businesses are taking advantage of Trump’s chaotic tariffs to price gouge consumers.

“This Administration’s reckless approach [to tariff policy] is spiking costs for small businesses and creating opportunities for billion-dollar companies to grow their profits and take advantage of consumers.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) led a letter to Andrew Ferguson, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), urging the agency to investigate tariff-enabled corporate price gouging that is raising costs for American families and use its full authority to prevent it.

The letter was also signed by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), and Representatives Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).

The lawmakers previously wrote to the FTC warning that large companies could take advantage of the Trump Administration’s chaotic tariff strategy to price gouge consumers. That letter noted that the on-again, off-again tariff confusion and uncertainty has created a cover for large corporations to raise prices on all goods, regardless of whether they are actually subject to new tariffs, and increase prices above and beyond what is necessary to cover any additional costs. Chair Ferguson did not respond to the lawmakers’ letter and has yet to take discernible action to prevent tariff-related price gouging, despite his own warning that President Trump’s tariffs “should not be interpreted as a green light for price fixing or any other unlawful behavior.”

In June 2025, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York released new survey results showing that “a significant share” of companies raised prices of goods and services that are not subject to tariffs, confirming that businesses were indeed “taking advantage of an escalating pricing environment to increase prices.”

Anecdotes from the Federal Reserve illustrate that tariff-enabled price gouging is already a significant and legitimate concern:

  • A heavy construction equipment supplier “raised prices on goods unaffected by tariffs to enjoy the extra margin.” 
  • A contact at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco “observed that price increases that had been implemented in anticipation of certain tariffs were not rolled back once those tariffs were removed.”
  • The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland said she heard of firms “raising prices even though they aren’t affected by tariffs because competitors who do face higher import taxes are raising prices.”  

“This Administration’s reckless approach is spiking costs for small businesses and creating opportunities for billion-dollar companies to grow their profits and take advantage of consumers,” wrote the lawmakers. “The FTC should be utilizing its full authority to prevent these unfair practices.”

The lawmakers concluded the letter by urging the FTC to use its 6(b) authority to investigate any tariff-enabled price gouging and to issue a report on its findings.

As a champion for American consumers and a secure and healthy economy, Senator Warren has engaged in oversight of corporations for unfairly increasing prices for consumers: 

  • In May 2025, Senator Warren demanded the Federal Trade Commission investigate which large companies are using the Trump Administration’s tariff policies – and the confusion surrounding them – as an excuse to raise prices in excess of actual cost increases and to prosecute individuals and companies that price gouge American consumers.
  • In May 2025, Senator Warren wrote to Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo, Inc. (Pepsi), demanding an explanation for the company’s potentially illegal price discrimination against small and independent grocery stores.
  • In May 2025, Senator Warren pressed Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize — parent company of Stop & Shop — on the chain’s progress lowering grocery prices at stores across Massachusetts.
  • In May 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks (R-Ind.) applauded the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into potential anticompetitive practices by major egg producers and urged the agency to continue its thorough investigation as egg prices continue to rise.
  • In January 2025, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) led 19 of their colleagues, writing to President Donald Trump, pushing him to take meaningful steps to lower the prices of eggs and other groceries—a problem he largely ignored during his entire first week in office.
  • In November 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) led their colleagues in writing to Chair of the Federal Trade Commission Lina Khan and Secretary of the Department of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, urging them to investigate Albertsons and other major grocery chains for predatory practices that could have violated federal laws.
  • In October 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren led a letter to President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s, Chris Kempczinski, pushing for more information on McDonald’s pricing decisions as fast food prices continue to increase, outpacing inflation and squeezing customers.
  • In October 2024, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, along with Representatives Jim McGovern and Ayanna Pressley, sent a letter to Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize—parent company of Stop & Shop—demanding an explanation for its potential use of pricing algorithms leading to price gouging, resulting in higher prices in minority and working-class communities in Massachusetts.
  • On May 3, 2024, during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs, Senator Warren called out food industry price gouging and urged action to combat unfair pricing practices.
  • On March 28, 2024, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Penn.) led a group of 14 lawmakers in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan urging the agency to revive enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act (RPA), a critical tool to promote fair competition in the food industry. 
  • On February 28, 2024, Senator Warren joined Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) in introducing the Shrinkflation Prevention Act to crack down on corporations that deceive consumers by selling smaller sizes of their products without lowering prices.
  • On February 15, 2024, Senators Warren, Baldwin, Casey, and U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) reintroduced the Price Gouging Prevention Act of 2024, which would protect consumers and prohibit corporate price gouging by authorizing the FTC and state attorneys general to enforce a federal ban against grossly excessive price increases.

###