Abigail Slater, head of antitrust affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice, resigned on Thursday, raising questions about how the Trump administration will handle competition policy in the future.

Slater posted his resignation statement on X after the White House had already requested his resignation. When Trump nominated Slater for this position last December, it was widely seen as a signal that a second Trump administration would continue the Biden team's proactive antitrust enforcement strategy. This resignation comes at a time when there are internal disagreements within the Department of Justice regarding merger enforcement. Last month, despite recommendations from Slater and DOJ antitrust lawyers to conduct an in-depth review of Compass's acquisition of its largest competitor, Anywhere Real Estate, the DOJ still approved the deal. Previously, disputes over Hewlett Packard Enterprise's acquisition of Juniper Networks had already led DOJ leadership to dismiss two of Slater's senior deputies. The Antitrust Division is also reviewing the ongoing battle between Netflix and Paramount Global over the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.