On January 13, 2017, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairwoman Edith Ramirez announced that she will resign from her post effective February 10, 2017. President Obama appointed Ramirez to the FTC on April 5, 2010, and she became Chairwoman approximately three years later.

The FTC brought approximately 100 enforcement actions challenging anticompetitive mergers and business conduct under Ramirez's leadership, including challenges to the Sysco and U.S. Foods merger and pharmaceutical pay-for-delay agreements.

Chairwoman Ramirez frequently spoke on antitrust issues. For more on Chairwoman Ramirez's antitrust positions, see Legal Updates:

Once Chairwoman Ramirez's resignation takes effect, the FTC will have only two Commissioners: Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican, and Terrell McSweeny, a Democrat, both appointed by President Obama. Three FTC posts will be available to be filled by President-elect Trump. No more than three Commissioners can be from the same political party, meaning that Trump will need to nominate at least one Democrat. He will also choose one Commissioner to act as Chairman.

President-elect Trump appointed David Higbee to lead the Justice Department transition and former FTC Commissioner Joshua Wright to lead the FTC transition, which some think signals that he intends to return to a more traditionally conservative approach to antitrust enforcement, which would rely less on government enforcement (see Reuters, Trump adds antitrust expert to Justice transition team).