SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) – The only two Democrats on the US Federal Trade Commission have been fired by President Donald Trump, the White House said, opening the door for the Republican to appoint loyalists at the independent regulatory agency.

The FTC’s primary function is to protect the American public against deceptive or unfair business practices.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a White House official confirmed that FTC commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter were dismissed.

The FTC consists of five commissioners, typically representing both major political parties.

“The president just illegally fired me,” Bedoya wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “This is corruption plain and simple.”

Bedoya vowed to “see the president in court” over the dismissal.

Layoffs of federal workers have been rampant since Trump took office in January and established a “Department of Government Efficiency” headed by billionaire Elon Musk, a senior advisor and key financial backer of the Republican’s 2024 campaign.

“The FTC is an independent agency founded 111 years ago to fight fraudsters and monopolists,” Bedoya said in a post. “Now, the president wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.”

Newly appointed FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson thanked the two commissioners for their service in a statement Tuesday, adding that his agency “will continue its tireless work to protect consumers, lower prices, and police anticompetitive behavior.”

He added that Trump is “vested with all of the executive power of our government.”

“I have no doubts about his constitutional authority to remove commissioners, which is necessary to ensure democratic accountability for our government,” Ferguson said.

But the removal of commissioners of the opposing party in order to pack the FTC with loyalists is outside the norm.

The FTC itself says on its website that while the president chooses the chair, “no more than three Commissioners can be of the same political party.”

– Trump’s preferences –

Under Trump and former president Joe Biden, the FTC has taken on Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook parent Meta over how they wield market power.

In an interview with Fox Business in February, Ferguson confirmed that ongoing cases against Amazon and Meta would proceed, emphasising his commitment to “holding Big Tech’s feet to the fire.”

Questions have lingered, however, on whether the Trump administration will continue with the cases, given an apparent alignment between tech billionaires and the Republican since he won last year’s election.

Since that victory, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made major changes at his company to bring it in line with Trump’s preferences.

He has axed US fact-checking on Facebook, named Trump ally Dana White to Meta’s board, and appointed a Republican advisor as head of global policy.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos visited Trump during the transition period, and has sought to make his Washington Post newspaper less hostile to the president.

The billionaire quashed the Post’s planned election endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris, and has imposed restrictions on its opinion section.