Khan's likely exit removes a massive thorn in the side of large tech firms that have faced additional scrutiny under her leadership.
However, the populist bent of Trump and his allies could keep antitrust enforcement at the forefront.
“Trump is a populist, and he’s a populist in every sense of the word, including antitrust policy,” Matthew Cantor, an antitrust lawyer with Shinder Cantor Lerner, told The Hill.
“I think that there will be a continued push on antitrust issues — maybe not a Lina Khan-like pushing of the envelope — but there will be a continued priority placed on antitrust enforcement,” he added.
Khan has led the Biden administration’s aggressive antitrust push, blocking what she views as anticompetitive mergers and suing corporate giants for alleged anticompetitive practices.
Her policies have often drawn the ire of the business community, even making her flashpoint among Democrats.
After Vice President Harris stepped into the White House race in July, several major Democratic donors, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and IAC chair Barry Diller, urged her to remove Khan if elected.
The heat on the FTC chair prompted her progressive supporters, like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), to jump to her defense. Ocasio-Cortez last month promised an “out and out brawl” if “anyone goes near Lina Khan.”
As parts of the Republican Party increasingly embrace populism, Khan’s more forceful approach to antitrust enforcement has been welcomed by some from the other side of the aisle.
Vice President-elect Vance touted the FTC chair’s record in February, saying that she was doing a “pretty good job.”
“A lot of my Republican colleagues look at Lina Khan … and they say, well Lina Khan is sort of engaged in some sort of fundamental evil thing," the Ohio Republican said at a Bloomberg forum.
"I guess I look at Lina Khan as one of the few people in the Biden administration that I think is doing a pretty good job,” he continued.
Despite Vance’s praise for Khan, she seems unlikely to remain on in a second Trump administration.
Even so, certain sectors, including tech and pharmaceuticals, are expected to remain top targets for antitrust enforcement under the president-elect.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
