Global Antitrust & Competition Report 2026

Antitrust enforcement is broadening worldwide, even as dealmakers report more certainty that transactions will close.

Antitrust and competition enforcement is expanding on nearly every front—into labour markets, algorithmic pricing, artificial intelligence (AI) and more—as governments increasingly treat competition law as an industrial policy tool. Yet attorneys from around the world report that today’s enforcement priorities are leading to greater deal certainty, with regulators now leaning more on remedies than outright challenges.

BRG’s inaugural Global Antitrust & Competition Report draws on a survey of more than 150 senior antitrust and competition attorneys across fifteen countries and in-depth interviews with eighteen leading lawyers. Participation was distributed evenly across Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe and the United States.

The report examines how enforcement priorities, political pressure and regulatory fragmentation are reshaping conduct enforcement, merger control and adjacent transaction regimes such as foreign direct investment screening and the European Union’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation.

Key findings from this year’s report include:

• Antitrust enforcement is broadening and intensifying. About 60 percent of the antitrust attorneys surveyed expect enforcement to expand in both scope and intensity over the next twelve months. That builds on similar numbers who saw enforcement scope and intensity increase in the past twelve months and reflects a growing emphasis on novel theories of harm, as well as the expansion of enforcement priorities to areas like labour, digital markets and consumer pricing.
• AI, digital markets and financial services are top industry targets for enforcement. This is true for both the past twelve months and the year ahead, as about one-third of respondents selected each sector.
• Domestic political and economic priorities are leading drivers of antitrust enforcement. As nations (and regions) compete for economic superiority amid a wave of protectionism, 58 percent of US respondents named domestic political priorities as the most influential enforcement driver over the past twelve months. Nearly 40 percent of APAC respondents said the same of domestic economic priorities, while 48 percent of European respondents cited regional or supranational political ones.
• Regulatory fragmentation is accelerating. More than seven in ten respondents said antitrust policy became more fragmented across jurisdictions over the past twelve months, and nearly four out of five said cross-border antitrust requirements create recurring or significant challenges.
• Remedies have become the dominant intervention, with deal certainty rising in kind. Seven in ten respondents said enforcement priorities have increased deal certainty over the past year. Only one-third said authorities tend to challenge or prohibit transactions rather than rely on remedies.

The report also provides regional snapshots for APAC, Europe, the United Kingdom and the US.