WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - The chair of the House

Oversight Committee said on Wednesday he is investigating the

Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) work with the European

Commission in the collapse of Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) plan to

acquire iRobot Corp ( IRBT ) in a $1.4 billion deal.

Amazon ( AMZN ) and robot vacuum maker iRobot in January dropped

their plans to tie-up in the face of opposition from European

and U.S. antitrust regulators.

"The FTC's anticompetitive actions threaten to harm

America's global position in the personal robotics market, while

ceding market share of personal robotics to foreign entities

such as China," Republican Representative James Comer said in a

letter to the FTC asking for documents shared by the FTC with

the European Commission. "The FTC's actions indicate to American

businesses that the FTC will work outside of U.S. antitrust law

by using the EC to realize its desired outcomes."

The FTC declined to comment. Amazon ( AMZN ) and iRobot did not

immediately comment.

After the deal collapsed, iRobot in January announced a

significant restructuring plan to reduce costs and said it would

cut about 31% of its workforce, or 350 jobs. The company also

said founder Colin Angle had stepped down as its CEO.

Amazon ( AMZN ) said in January the deal had no path to regulatory

approval in the European Union.

EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in January said

its in-depth investigation preliminarily showed "the acquisition

of iRobot would have enabled Amazon ( AMZN ) to foreclose iRobot's rivals

by restricting or degrading access to Amazon ( AMZN ) stores."

Separately, the FTC was poised to reject Amazon's ( AMZN ) deal

before the companies announced they were abandoning it, a source

told Reuters in January.

Amazon ( AMZN ) announced the deal in August 2022. The world's

largest online retailer, which already owns Alexa and Ring, was

pushing to expand its stable of smart home devices as well as

expanding the e-commerce giant's virtual healthcare.