WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Andrew Ferguson, a Republican member of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, to serve as the agency’s chair, a politically charged role currently held by Lina Khan.

“Andrew has a proven record of standing up to Big Tech censorship, and protecting Freedom of Speech in our Great Country,” Trump said in a statement posted to his Truth Social network on Tuesday. “Andrew will be the most America First, and pro-innovation FTC Chair in our Country’s History.”

Ferguson, one of two Republicans at the five-member antitrust and consumer protection agency, joined the FTC in April. Before that, he served as Virginia’s solicitor general, representing the state in key lawsuits.

As an FTC commissioner, Ferguson has dissented from several of Khan’s rulemaking efforts, including a ban on non-compete clauses in employment contracts and rules to make it easier to cancel subscriptions.

The FTC is one of two enforcers, alongside the Justice Department’s antitrust division, tasked with overseeing federal competition law and policy. It is the country’s leading consumer protection agency and de facto tech regulator, going after digital privacy abuses, advertising fraud and other deceptive conduct. The two share jurisdiction over reviewing mergers and investigating and acting against companies across the economy for monopolistic practices.

Under President Joe Biden, they faced intense criticism from much of corporate America for hindering dealmaking. At the same time, Khan and her Justice Department counterpart Jonathan Kanter were lauded by progressives such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, as well as some on the far right such as Vice President-elect JD Vance, over their aggressive stance against concentrated corporate power, particularly in the technology sector.

While a second Trump administration may be friendlier to business tie-ups, it is likely to keep up the aggressive pursuit of antitrust cases targeting big tech companies. Major cases against Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc. that are now winding their way through the courts were filed in the first Trump administration, while investigations launched then also yielded lawsuits against Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. as well as financial services companies such as Visa Inc.

A Republican-led FTC is likely to pull back on the agency’s rulemaking efforts, a priority under Khan that GOP members have opposed. Though it would be a drastic and unlikely move, a Trump administration could simply drop any Biden-era cases it doesn’t like.

Khan, a Columbia University law professor and former congressional staffer, has held the job since spring 2021 and proved a hard-driving progressive champion. Now, Ferguson will have to navigate between competing interests within the Republican Party, with populist regulatory hawks like Vance pitted against establishment conservatives in business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Antitrust has been a key part of that fight.

Last week, Trump picked Gail Slater, an economic policy adviser to Vance, to head up antitrust enforcement at the DOJ.

Before becoming Virginia’s top appellate lawyer, Ferguson was an aide to former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, where he was responsible for judicial confirmations, including that of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. He previously worked for Republican Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

After law school, Ferguson clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

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(With assistance from Lauren Dezenski and Airielle Lowe.)

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