Antitrust Exemptions

One of the first national laws against trusts and monopolies was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1886, which applies to all businesses engaged in interstate or international commerce. Federal law and the courts have defined commerce very broadly, as the "giving of essentially anything in return for barter or money" unless a specific exemption is granted (ABA, p2007, p. 7). Up to the 1970s and 1980s, many industries had such exemptions, including shipping, trucking, airlines, and telephones, on the grounds that excessive competition was destructive and destabilizing to the economy or that foreign cartels had an unfair advantage over American industries. According to the Clayton Act and Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, labor unions are specifically exempt from prosecution on antitrust grounds. Moreover, the Supreme Court has granted them non-statutory exemptions in the Jewel Tea and Pennington cases of...
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