The Pepsi bottle will be on display at a store in New York City on March 17th, 2025.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission voted to dismiss the lawsuit filed on the last day of the Biden administration that it accused of PepsiCo Providing lover prices to major retailers.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson opposed the lawsuit when filed in January when he was one of the regulatory commissioners. Ferguson, the now-in-a-guided the incident on Thursday as “a naked political effort to commit a largely pursuit of Pepsi’s pursuit of pursuing more than a prophecy that violated the law.”
“FTC’s excellent staff will instead return to work protecting consumers and ensuring a fair and competitive business environment,” he said in a statement.
The FTC voted 3-0 to drop the lawsuit. The panel should consist of five commissioners, of which less than three can share the same political party. But after President Donald Trump fired two Democrats in March, it is now led by three Republicans. The two exiled officials have accused the removal of illegality and urged judges to revive them.
A PepsiCo spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Beyond the soda of the same name, the company makes lots of snacks and other foods, including Doritos, Lold Gold Pretzels and Sablahumus.
The company criticized the FTC lawsuit in January, saying that pricing practices at the time were “in line with industry norms and do not support certain customers by providing discounts and promotional support to some customers rather than others.”
A top-ranked Democrat on Capitol Hill wrote to Pepsi over the weekend, demanding more information about its pricing strategy. They tried to revive the focus of the Biden era. This focused on price raising as a driver of inflation.
But large companies continue to pull scrutiny from the White House in other ways, surpassing prices. Last weekend, Trump denounced Walmart, warning that prices would likely be raised to offset the cost of import taxes, and demanded social media to “eat tariffs.”
Since then, other major consumer brands have appeared to be cautious about pricing. Target said Wednesday that charging customers more would be a “very last resort.” Home Depot effectively ruled out the price hike this week, and Lowe barely mentions the tariff impact in Wednesday’s revenue call.
