Antitrust is a large body of state and federal law that regulates how businesses work with one another. One particular emphasis in U.S. antitrust law involves how business combinations impact consumers. Several U.S. governmental agencies monitor potential consumer effects of business combinations. Beyond consumer protection, however, antitrust law seeks to prevent combinations between businesses that might damage the economy by overly-impacting a particular industry. Overall, the antitrust laws seek to preserve competition between companies, because it is thought that competition ensures the best products at the best prices for consumers. However, not all forms of business cooperation are prohibited.   The main focus is to prevent collusion and price-fixing which can destroy competition and artificially keep prices high. It can also force some companies out of business, creating job losses, so antitrust law also seeks to regulate this possibility. Finally, there are international provisions of the antitrust laws, especially the Sherman Act, which regulate the conduct of foreign businesses and groups of foreign businesses who wish to sell their products and services in the U.S.

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