This alert describes the surprisingly broad antitrust defense – against federal and state antitrust actions – that Congress created in Section 708 of the Defense Production Act of 1950.

Recent media attention on the implications of the global pandemic on competition law has focused on Section 101 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (“DPA”), which allows the US President to require private businesses to perform government contracts, and to “allocate materials, services and facilities ... necessary and appropriate for the national defense.” President Trump recently directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to invoke Section 101 to require General Motors Company to make ventilators.