The Trump administration has rolled into Washington and they’re determined to shake things up. Already Trump has fired Joe Biden’s anti-business head of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, and replaced her with the more reasonable Andrew Ferguson. 

Ferguson, along with Trump picks like Pamela Bondi and Gail Slater at the Department of Justice, suggest the new administration plans to be fairer to American companies than its predecessor.

This new attitude can’t come soon enough. Team Trump will soon have to make a decision that will directly impact how the United States competes with China when it comes to the technologies of tomorrow.

Back in January, before Bondi was confirmed as attorney general, the Justice Department announced it was suing Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) for its impending purchase of Juniper Networks. While the two 5G and telecom providers said they merged to help the U.S. better compete against China in this national security-sensitive industry, the DoJ argued that “this proposed merger would significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation.”

The Biden administration might be gone, but this had Khan and Company’s fingerprints all over it. The merger had already been reviewed for a year during which time it received not a single customer complaint. Given that antitrust and anti-merger actions are supposed to be guided by the welfare of the consumer, how can the DoJ justify this sudden intervention?

The Justice Department argues that HPE and Juniper “seek to consolidate -- increasing concentration in an already concentrated market.” Certainly, you want to avoid too much market concentration to maximize competition. But the tech industry today isn’t a national market dominated by companies HPE or Juniper (which only have 13 and four percent of the market, respectively); it’s a global one.

And when it comes to the global 5G market, the biggest dog on the block is Huawei, the Chinese multinational corporation that’s been accused of everything from intellectual property theft to enabling the mass surveillance of China’s Uighurs. In 2023, Huawei had a 31 percent share of the worldwide 5G market and no American company even cracked 10 percent.

Those who know how closely China’s government is involved with TikTok will understand that Huawei’s true client is the Chinese Communist Party. To take just one example, the U.S. has accused Huawei of giving Chinese law enforcement “backdoor access” into its mobile networks -- basically allowing China to spy on phone users. 

Europe in particular has been essential to shoring up Huawei. European nations have issued public statements warning about Chinese economic activity and some have even implemented bans on Huawei products (the U.S. has too). But the biggest economy in Europe, Germany, keeps slow-walking its ban and in 2022 close to 60 percent of German 5G came from Chinese companies. Huawei has a higher market share in Berlin than even Beijing.

This is so often how the global economy works now: Chinese state-subsidized conglomerates achieve massive market shares that inevitably pull in even reluctant European countries. As Trump renegotiates America’s trading relationship with the European Union, it’s possible Huawei could gain even more influence there.

What this means is that U.S. companies need a way to compete. Right now, the next closest American competitor to Huawei has just a 7 percent market share. Combined, all U.S. 5G companies amount to a 21 percent share globally, less than the single player of Huawei.

The solution to this problem is the HPE-Juniper merger. By combining their resources and knowhow -- by marrying the old-school industry experience of HPE with the disruptive mentality of Juniper -- the United States can compete with its Chinese adversaries.

The HPE-Juniper merger has already received the blessing of regulatory authorities in the United Kingdom and the European Union. And that’s saying something: the EU tends to be very skeptical of American tech companies and frequently ensnares them in red tape. That they’re not pushing back this time suggests they understand the urgent need for a Huawei competitor.

In the days ahead, Gail Slater, Trump’s nominee to head the Justice Department Antitrust Division, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate. Slater earned bipartisan praise during her confirmation hearings after promising to restore evidence to the DoJ’s antitrust process, after the Biden administration’s more point-and-scream approach.

Slater and Bondi should begin by calling off the crusade against HPE and Juniper. Let’s give American companies what they need to compete with China.

Feeney served a former congressman from the State of Florida, where he served on the House Judiciary Committee and the Antitrust Task Force and Competition Policy Subcommittee

Image: Hewlett-Packard Enterprise