The Trump administration’s AT&T lawsuit looks political, but motive might not matter in court

The perception that President Donald Trump has a vendetta against CNN might not factor into a court's ruling on the AT&T-Time Warner deal, but it could backfire in a different way on a president who styles himself as a champion of American business. “The U.S. has made an enormous effort over the past decades to advocate sound antitrust policies abroad,” said Anu Bradford, an antitrust specialist at Columbia Law School. “The [Justice Department] and the FTC have, in particular, emphasized the need to stick to economic analysis and taken a firm stand that merger control should not be used for political ends. “The appearance — whether right or wrong — that the U.S. now allows politics to penetrate its own merger review is likely to send a troubling signal, potentially inviting politicization of antitrust enforcement in other jurisdictions. This would very likely have negative effects on deals pursued by U.S. companies in foreign markets.”