Tim Wu, the central architect in President Biden’s effort to sever the wings of the nation’s biggest companies, is leaving the White House.
Mr. Wu’s last day at the National Economic Council will be Wednesday, ending his term. 22 month term White House said as special assistant to the president for competition policy and technology. Mr. Wu told The New York Times that he would return to his previous job, as a professor at Columbia Law School.
Mr. Wu is a third of the troika — along with Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission and Jonathan Kanter at the Justice Department — leading Washington’s effort to more aggressively scrutinize giant companies, including the biggest tech companies. He is the author of a July 2021 operating command requires federal agencies to take steps to increase competition throughout the economy. Ms. Khan and Mr. Kanter have tried to block incorporate companies using arguments that are not common in court.
Mr. Wu, 50, said personal reasons led to his departure. He said he commuted from New York to Washington, which required him to spend time away from his young children.
“There are times when the family burden is too great,” Mr. Wu said. “I have felt the balance has shifted.”
Mr. Wu said he took the job believing it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to reverse decades of more conservative thinking about antitrust law. The administration has scored a number of victories on that front – such as enacting parts of the executive order in 2021, which led to the government’s push to open up the charging grid for electric vehicles and provide power boosters. hearing to buy without a prescription.
“I think I am perhaps most proud of the fact that we have re-established the role of the president in competition policy and economic structure,” he said.
But antitrust laws banning common practices used by tech giants, the target of many progressives, have not become law.
Mr. Wu said it was “disappointing” that technology-related legislation had not been passed during his term and defended the White House’s efforts to push for antitrust measure. “We have supported it throughout the process,” he said, adding, “We have repeatedly and unconditionally voiced support for a bipartisan bill of this nature.”
Mr. Wu said he was pleased with the strong action taken by the FTC and the Justice Department, the two main federal antitrust regulators, over the past two years. The agencies are led by political appointees and operate independently of the White House.
Although the Justice Department successfully blocked Penguin Random House from buying Simon & Schuster, courts have ruled that several other merger challenges have been rejected by the company. The FTC also sued to block Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Microsoft from acquiring the companies in recent months; those efforts face stiff legal challenges.
Hannah Garden-Monheit, who has joined the antitrust executive order, will take over his antitrust policy work. The White House said Elizabeth Kelly, who works on digital asset policy for the National Economic Council, will inherit his portfolio on technology policy issues. Bharat Ramamurti, deputy director of the National Economic Council, will continue to oversee both sectors.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, said in a statement that over the past two years, the government has revived “the great American tradition of presidential leadership over competition policy, dates back to the days of Franklin and Teddy Roosevelt.” He added that the administration will “continue to institutionalize bipartisan reforms that favor inter-agency competition.”
When asked what to expect in the coming years, Mr. Ramamurti pointed to the requirements set forth in the 2021 executive order.
“We have all the different levers we can use — human resources, judicial, you know, agencies — and we’re working on all of that,” he said.
