Cutting Edge Products: Merchants Welcome Trump Backing of Credit Card Swipe Fee Reform at GOP Midterm Convention
“President Trump is right that dealing with credit card swipe fees would be one of the most effective ways to help American families,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said. “Credit card swipe fees drive up costs for small businesses and prices for American families every day. Bringing competition to these constantly rising fees would provide relief at a time when it is badly needed. We appreciate that this is a priority for President Trump. It’s time for Congress to take action.”
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Payments Dive: Trump pledges card fee cuts, again
The Merchants Payments Coalition, which supports the legislation, noted in a press release Wednesday that it was the third time this year that Trump has egged on credit card fee reform to lower the cost of such transactions. “President Trump is right that dealing with credit card swipe fees would be one of the most effective ways to help American families,” MPC Executive Committee member Doug Kantor said in the release. “Credit card swipe fees drive up costs for small businesses and prices for American families every day,” said Kantor, who is also the general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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Merchants Welcome Trump Backing of Credit Card Swipe Fee Reform at GOP Midterm Convention
MPC welcomed President Donald Trump’s latest call for credit card swipe fee reform, which took place at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas.
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New York Post: Trump pledges to slash ‘out-of-control credit card swipe fees’ at RNC midterm convention
The average swipe fee rate for Visa and Mastercard-branded credit cards rose to 2.36% of the transaction amount in 2025, up from 2.35% the previous year, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition. Swipe fees for credit cards and debit cards combined totaled $198.25 billion in 2025. The two card networks control over 80% of the market, the trade association noted.
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Restaurant Business: Swipe fees cost businesses billions — here's why that might finally change
“Small businesses and restaurants get hit particularly hard,” Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores (and MPC Executive Committee member), said. “Visa and Mastercard systematically charge small businesses more in swipe fees. Also, the swipe fees get charged as a percentage against the tipped and taxed amount, not pre-tax and tip. That’s a huge penalty to businesses that operate on tips.”
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Visa and Mastercard Stocks Hit Record Highs as Merchants and Consumers Face Soaring Credit Card Swipe Fees
Visa and Mastercard stock prices hit record highs this week, showing further evidence of the need for Congress to address soaring credit card swipe fees, MPC said.
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Tech Times: Walmart Accepts Apple Pay, Routing Shoppers Into Its Fintech Super-App
NFC payments route through Visa and Mastercard networks, triggering interchange fees averaging 2.36% on credit card transactions in the US, according to the Merchants Payments Coalition.
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Forbes: Understanding Illinois’ Swipe Fee Law And What It Means For Merchants
In its request to withdraw the NCUA interim rule, the MPC also raised an antitrust concern that I believe deserves more attention than it is getting. The MPC wrote that the rule "appears to authorize conduct that is difficult to reconcile with established federal antitrust principles, departs from longstanding expectations regarding competitive markets, exceeds NCUA's authority under the Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA), and adopts an overly broad interpretation of federal credit union preemption." If a third party can set prices for competitors in one category, I believe the logic could extend to all of them, such as late fees, overdraft fees, annual fees and ATM fees.
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American Prospect: The Credit Card Operative Helping Shape Democratic Primaries
“The claims they [the Small Business Payments Alliance] make are blatantly false … just about any small business is losing far more money in terms of costs to credit cards than they could ever possibly recoup in rewards, unless of course they’re getting these payoffs on the side,” said (MPC Executive Committee member) Doug Kantor, the general counsel for the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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Punchbowl News: Can Moreno make credit card reform a threat?
“There is momentum to get the Credit Card Competition Act done this year,” said (MPC Executive Committee member) Doug Kantor, general counsel at the National Association of Convenience Stores.
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