The United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Friday cracking down on what the White House says are anticompetitive practices among technology companies, labor and several other economic sectors. 

A White House fact sheet says the order to "promote competition in the American economy" will "lower prices for families, increase wages for workers, and promote innovation and even faster economic growth."

The executive order establishes "a whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy," the fact sheet says. "The Order includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to promptly tackle some of the most pressing competition problems across our economy."

The wide-ranging order includes initiatives to ban or limit non-compete agreements, lower prescription drug prices, allow hearing aids to be sold over-the-counter, and make internet access more affordable by banning excessive early termination fees and ending landlord internet service provider exclusivity arrangements. 

It would also limit manufacturers from prohibiting self-repairs of their products, making it easier and cheaper to fix items, and require banks to allow customers to take their financial transaction data with them to a competitor.

The order also "encourages the leading antitrust agencies to focus enforcement efforts on problems in key markets and coordinates other agencies' ongoing response to corporate consolidation," the fact sheet says. This would involve directing the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission to "enforce the antitrust laws vigorously," and establishing a White House Competition Council led by the director of the National Economic Council.

The order does not impose the will of the White House directly, but instead encourages different agencies to take action. For example, it urges the Surface Transportation Board to require railroad track owners to provide rights of way to passenger rail, and ask the Federal Maritime Commission to enforce rules against shippers charging American exporters high fees.

"The overarching objective with the executive order is to make sure the President is encouraging competition in industries around the country," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday.

The Biden administration's staffing choices have signaled its commitment to tighter antitrust enforcement, in particular the focus on what some experts contend are anticompetitive practices by Amazon, Facebook and other Big Tech companies.

(With input from agencies)