‘Deregulation’ Means Rigging Markets to Reward the Rich and Powerful

For Immediate Release: April 20, 2026
Contact: David Rosen, drosen@citizen.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration’s adoption of “deregulation” to sell its agenda to the public obscures its actual goal: rigging markets to benefit powerful economic actors even at the expense of everyone else. That’s the key finding of a new report released today from the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards (CSS).

The right’s supposed commitment to deregulation is more rhetoric than reality, but remains deeply harmful to the public interest, according to the report. This administration is fine imposing new rules or onerous requirements when it suits their agenda. They are equally fine with a proliferation of regulatory standards when it is consistent with their policy goals. The Trump administration has added unnecessary, burdensome red-tape to the process of applying for public benefits and taken contradictory stands on regulatory preemption depending on who would benefit from a single nationwide standard – contradicting claims that it is focused on reducing the number of rules.

A closer examination reveals that supposed debates over deregulation are actually about the distribution of power in markets: who writes the rules that govern various industries and who benefits from those rules. Every market has rules. If not established by the government, they will be written by powerful economic actors to benefit themselves at the expense of consumers and competitors.

“Regulations ensure that our food and drugs are safe. Consumer safety standards mean individual consumers don’t have to conduct our own hazard tests. And financial disclosure requirements help us better understand the relevant costs for major purchases, such as a home mortgage,” said Rachel Weintraub, executive director of CSS. “Deregulation as a frame shifts focus from the goal of safeguards – keeping people safe, healthy, and prosperous – to their impact on regulated entities. It minimizes the perspective of workers, consumers, the public, and our environment, and adopts the viewpoint of the powerful economic actors being regulated.”

“The Trump administration’s attacks on existing regulations are a roadmap to understanding its ideology and agenda,” said Sam Berger, consultant to CSS and author of the report. “These attacks show who the administration is working to help, how it is doing so, and who it does not mind hurting in the process.”