WASHINGTON – Groups of merchants are forming a national coalition to campaign for stricter antitrust laws, including measures that could force Amazon.com Inc. to break up some of its lines of business.
The effort is being launched on Tuesday by commercial groups representing small hardware stores, office suppliers, booksellers, grocery stores and others, along with business groups from 12 cities, organizers say. Traders plan to put pressure on their representatives in Congress for stricter antitrust laws and tougher enforcement of existing ones.
The groups, which collectively represent thousands of companies, want federal legislation that would prevent the owner of a dominant online market from selling their own products in competition with other sellers, a policy that could effectively separate Amazon’s retail products business from its own. online market.
Members of the House’s Antitrust Subcommittee are considering such legislation while evaluating changes in the United States’ antitrust law, although no bill has yet been tabled.
Market groups also want stricter enforcement of competition laws and legal changes that would make it easier for the government to win antitrust lawsuits against large companies.