Sen. Chuck Schumer spoke out Sunday in opposition to the large merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern that might be headed for approval from President Trump’s administration.
The New York Democrat has railed in opposition to the freight railroad merger because it was first introduced in late July, warning it may damage competitors and drive up costs.
“President Trump has been conducting an unprecedented reshaping of the federal government that aims to give preferred corporations and industries remarkable powers and advantage, and now this fact pattern applies to the freight rail industry,” Schumer mentioned Sunday.
Regardless of opposition from Schumer and different teams, the proposed $85 billion merger of two of America’s 4 main freight rail firms seems to be on observe.
Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern shareholders each voted final month to approve the deal and Trump has signaled his help as effectively.
Again in October, Trump fired a member of the Floor Transportation Board, which should approve the deal. Robert Primus, a Democratic appointee more likely to oppose the deal, has contested his firing. He’d been on the board since 2001.
“If approved by the feds, the deal would cut down the industry from four major players to just three, pushing us even further down the road of dangerous consolidation and monopoly power,” Schumer mentioned. “Even worse, the costs of everything from food, via agriculture shipments, to other goods dependent on a competitive supply chain, risk going much, much higher.”
Nevertheless, the Trump administration has been rather more accepting of huge mergers than the earlier administration beneath Joe Biden. Trump not too long ago accredited an $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance to create a large leisure firm.
The humongous rail merger can be the most important U.S. railroad acquisition in historical past, and the businesses not too long ago mentioned they hope to shut the deal as quickly as Dec. 16. Schumer, nevertheless, is hoping to place the deal beneath larger scrutiny in Congress.
“If President Trump rubber-stamps another merger that hands over critical infrastructure to a corporate cartel, he’ll prove once again that he’s not on the side of working Americans,” Schumer mentioned.
