Warren, Gallego, Whitehouse, Booker, DeLauro, Colleagues Demand FTC Stop Corporations from Using Trump’s Tariffs as an Excuse to Price Gouge Americans
Many wealthy corporations have already announced price hikes, even before tariffs take effect.
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined Senators Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), along with 31 of their Senate and House colleagues, in demanding the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 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.
“President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs build an especially fertile environment for price-gouging. The new tariffs have created a cloud of uncertainty that gives companies cover to raise prices on all goods, regardless of whether they are subject to new tariffs or whether their costs have meaningfully increased, above and beyond what is necessary to cover any cost increases,” wrote the lawmakers.
“While small businesses operating on thin profit margins will be forced to pass on many costs to stay afloat, the chaotic and sweeping nature of President Trump’s tariffs is especially conducive to price gouging by large companies with significant market power […] Even if President Trump decides to reduce or eliminate tariffs, companies may nonetheless decide to maintain higher prices—or raise them even further, claiming ‘market uncertainty,’” continued the lawmakers.
The members note that many large corporations have already admitted to raising prices regardless of the actual impacts of tariffs, such as when the CEO of AutoZone said on an earnings call last September, “If we get tariffs…we generally raise prices ahead of [when] we know what the tariffs will be,” or when, during the first Trump Administration, manufacturers raised the price of clothes dryers, even though only washing machines were subject to tariffs.
To prevent this type of corporate price gouging at the expense of working families, the members urge FTC Chair Ferguson to fulfill his public commitment to ensure President Trump’s trade war is not a “green light” for price hikes by:
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Using his authority under Section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act to require large companies to report their costs and retail and wholesale prices since November 6, 2024, and the extent to which tariffs have increased their costs.
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Using his authority under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to investigate and prosecute companies engaging in “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”
The members also criticized Chair Ferguson’s decision to abruptly close an FTC investigation into corporations using Americans’ personal information to tailor their pricing and price gouge individual consumers. The price gouging tactic, known as “surveillance pricing,” is used by corporations to target consumers with increased prices based on their personal data, such as location and browsing history.
“Armed with the knowledge that the FTC has turned a blind eye to this price-gouging tactic, companies now have free rein to use surveillance pricing to price gouge consumers. A former FTC official said, ‘The message that is coming out of this administration…is that the watchdog is gone and companies feel emboldened to rip people off.’ We urge you to fulfill your public commitment and to ensure President Trump’s trade war is not a ‘green light’ for price gouging,” concluded the lawmakers.
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