The Open Markets Act

Economic liberty depends on the ability to compete.

A healthy market gives consumers choices, entrepreneurs opportunities, and businesses incentives to continually improve. When customers can choose, businesses must earn their loyalty through better products, better service, and better prices.

Competition is one of the most effective forms of accountability in a free society.

When a small number of firms dominate an industry, that accountability begins to weaken. Consumers face fewer alternatives. Entrepreneurs face higher barriers to entry. Smaller businesses struggle to reach customers. Markets become easier to control and harder to challenge. The result has been a gradual loss of economic freedom as opportunities become concentrated in the hands of a few dominant organizations.

Open markets help ensure that success is earned through innovation, service, and competition rather than protected through market power.

For much of American history, new businesses regularly challenged established companies. A small company with a better product, better service, or a better idea could grow into a serious competitor. Consumers often had multiple businesses competing for their attention, and firms had to continually earn customer loyalty.

Over time, however, many industries began to consolidate.

Mergers, acquisitions, and the expansion of large firms gradually reduced the number of independent competitors in key sectors of the economy. As companies grew larger, they gained advantages in scale, distribution, data, and capital that made it increasingly difficult for smaller firms to compete on equal footing.

In many industries, a small number of firms now control large shares of the market or act as central platforms that shape how customers and businesses interact, raising barriers to entry and limiting meaningful competition.

The result is fewer alternatives for consumers and a growing sense that markets no longer feel as open or competitive as they once did.

Over time many markets became increasingly concentrated. Mergers reduced the number of competitors. Dominant firms gained greater control over distribution, data, and customer access. Customers became more dependent on a small number of platforms and providers, while new competitors faced growing barriers to entry.

The result was not simply larger companies. It was a shift in power away from competitive markets and toward a small number of organizations capable of shaping the rules of entire industries.

This act restores competition by making markets more open, contestable, and accessible to new entrants.

The reforms focus on a simple principle:

Success should come from competing better, not from preventing competition.

The act strengthens antitrust enforcement, limits anti-competitive acquisitions, reduces barriers that lock customers into dominant platforms, restricts exclusionary business practices, and promotes fair access to markets.

The purpose of this act is to ensure that success continues to be earned through innovation, service, and competition rather than protected through market power.

When markets remain open, consumers gain more choices, entrepreneurs gain more opportunities, and economic power remains accountable.