WASHINGTON – On January 29, 2024, iRobot and Amazon cancelled their planned merger amid pressure from European regulators, the Federal Trade Commission, led by its then chair  Lina Khan, and progressive U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Today, on the two-year anniversary of this unfortunate announcement, Competitiveness Coalition Chairman Ronna McDaniel issued the below statement:

“It’s an American tragedy that one of our foremost innovators in iRobot is in Chinese hands today as a result of the misguided, anti-innovation policies championed by Lina Khan and Elizabeth Warren,” said McDaniel, a former four-term Republican National Committee Chair. “iRobot’s demise was both predictable and preventable, had Khan and Warren shed their ideological blinders and realized that hundreds of jobs would be lost and a proven American innovator would be forced to shutter. Two years later, iRobot now can only serve as a cautionary tale for regulators and legislators alike that we must celebrate, not villainize our innovators, lest they fail and fall into foreign hands.” 

For more information on the Competitiveness Coalition’s work, please visit competitivenesscoalition.com. Members of the press can contact the coalition at press@competitivenesscoalition.com.

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The Competitiveness Coalition is a first-of-its-kind group educating the public and advocating for policies that put consumers first while fostering innovation and attracting new investment.