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The furious pace of deregulation is gutting agencies intended to protect ordinary Americans, consumer advocates say. But business groups have long favored regulatory relief.
Feb. 13, 2025Updated 6:42 a.m. ET
The Trump administration is rapidly delivering wins to American companies by rolling back regulations, pausing investigations and retreating from lawsuits accusing employers of discrimination.
A combination of firings, stop-work orders and litigation pauses has hobbled regulators like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The moves have led the S.E.C. to pull back on its attempt to police the cryptocurrency boom and upended efforts at other agencies to protect worker rights.
The speed and scale of the deregulatory moves by President Trump reflect his ambitious agenda to downsize government.
But the upshot of all this upheaval is simple: Regulatory agencies that are intended to protect ordinary Americans, workers and homeowners are being gutted, consumer advocates say.
“Under the Trump administration, federal consumer protections are being rapidly stripped away in a lawless process,” said Adam Levitin, a professor at Georgetown Law who specializes in financial regulation. “This is deregulation by firings.”
