July 27, 2025

Welcome to Letters from CAMP, a newsletter on anti-monopoly activity in Canada and abroad, brought to you by the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. In this instalment we have:

• Microsoft admits that the sovereignty of foreign countries is secondary to the long arm of American cloud laws
• Amazon hikes the price of basic goods as the e-commerce giant’s pricing power grows
• An AI action plan out of the White House with Big Tech’s fingerprints all over it

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Now let’s dive in.

Microsoft Admits U.S. Cloud Law Trumps Foreign Sovereignty

In June, Microsoft’s Director of Public and Legal Affairs told French senators that if Microsoft received a request from the U.S. government to hand over data stored in France and relating to French persons, that it would comply, even if it meant violating the GDPR. This week, in a post on Canadian Cyber in Context, Alexander Rudolph laid out what this means for Canadians citizens and policymakers.

The answer will not shock Letters readers: Microsoft will treat U.S. law as superseding the sovereignty of countries like Canada and France, putting sensitive data from individuals, corporations, and institutions alike at risk. To be fair, Microsoft finds themselves between a rock and a hard place. They are obliged to comply with U.S. law, and 2018’s CLOUD Act requires them to hand over the data, wherever its location. But leaving sensitive data available to U.S. authorities threatens Microsoft’s reputation as a provider for the private and public sector. This situation is not unique to Microsoft, and other U.S.-based communications and data storage providers like Amazon, Google, and Oracle are similarly beholden to the CLOUD Act.

Microsoft’s admission to French officials reminds us of the inherent danger of placing so much of our digital infrastructure in the hands of a single country. Microsoft alone accounts for over 60% of the Canadian federal government’s cloud computing spend. If the security of that data cannot be guaranteed, no matter where it is housed, alternatives must be developed. Canada is not alone in this desire, and the erratic behavior of the U.S. is creating global demand for independent providers of digital infrastructure. But walking the walk on diversification is no small task. Whether lawmakers and industry will be able to muster the will for such an undertaking remains to be seen. But a growing focus on the intersection of digital sovereignty and national security, the time has never been riper for action.

We’ll Pay What They Tell Us to Pay

There has been fierce debate in recent years over what exactly has been driving inflation in economies around the world. But whether it’s supply chain disruptions, climate change, or tariffs, inflation presents an opportunity for monopolists to pass on cost increase to consumers instead of sharing the burden. We saw this in Canada in the years following the pandemic when grocery chains were able to hold their margins flat and reap hundreds of millions in additional profits as prices on store shelves rose. Without competition, dominant players have a free hand to raise prices and pocket the difference.

This week, analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that despites claims to contrary, Amazon has been hiking the cost of essential products in the U.S., heading in a different direction than competitors like Walmart and Target. While one could be quick to blame tariffs for the elevated prices, increase have occurred in domestically produced staples like canned soup. Tariff explanations also don’t explain the contrary actions of Amazon’s competitors, who have been holding steady or even slashing the prices of similar products.

These actions are a reminder that there is rarely one true price for the goods we pay for, and dominant retailers have tremendous power to shape the menu of choices available to us. As capacity for algorithmic and surveillance pricing by monopolists increases, we need to be vigilant to ensure consumers are not taken advantage of. That means greater transparency in how pricing decisions are made, restricting the use of sensitive corporate and individual data, and of course maintaining competitive markets where sellers fight hard for consumer dollars. The pace of inflation may have abated, but work remains to build the competitive markets that will protect consumers from future pricing surges.

📚 What We’re Reading 📚

• Cooper, et al., Are Hospital Acquisitions of Physician Practices Anticompetitive?​
• Windwehr, Enforcement of EU’s Tech Laws Should Not Be Traded Away​
• Bednar, We won’t let Americans buy our biggest bank. Why let them buy our biggest crypto firm?​

Innovation Through Domination: America’s AI Action Plan

This week, the White House released its’ new AI Action Plan, supposedly intended to support innovation and the development of artificial intelligence products and services. But closer examination of the plan by Asad Ramzanali, Director of AI and Tech Policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, shows us that the real goal is to ensure that U.S. Big Tech remains dominant, even at the expense of American innovation.

A key issue is that the action plan boasts of directing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to abandon antitrust investigations that would otherwise protect competition in the evolving market for AI. This takes the pressure off of firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet who have been under FTC scrutiny for anticompetitive practices around their domination in AI markets. Ramzanali shows that time and time again, American antitrust investigations and litigation have been the driver of change in markets dominated by a handful of players and given space for new challengers to thrive.

Alongside directives to speed up development of data centers at the cost of the environment and our health, and veiled threats to foreign countries wishing to regulate the deployment of AI systems, the action plan is one more sign that Big Tech has the ear of the Trump White House. As a world leader in the development of AI capabilities, America needs a real action plan that supports competition and innovation instead of a grab bag of Big Tech handouts.

If you have any monopoly tips or stories you’d like to share, drop us a line at hello@antimonopoly.ca

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