Final answer:
Roosevelt proposed strict regulation and antitrust laws to manage business combinations or trusts. He targeted trusts that reduced competition or exploited the market, differentiating between 'good' and 'bad' trusts and using the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce and Labor to regulate or break them up.
Step-by-step explanation:
Roosevelt's approach to business combinations or trusts was strict regulation and antitrust laws. He believed in the necessity of breaking up trusts that leveraged their power to decrease competition and harm the public interest. Under his administration, the Sherman Antitrust Act was used to bring lawsuits against significant monopolies, including Northern Securities Company, Standard Oil, and the American Tobacco Company. Roosevelt differentiated between 'good trusts', which he allowed to operate, and 'bad trusts', which he felt were exploitative and therefore subjected to legal action. For example, in 1902, he ordered the Department of Justice to investigate Northern Securities Company, which resulted in a Supreme Court decision to break up the trust.
It is also important to note that while President Wilson had similar progressive inclinations, he harbored a more aggressive stance, believing trusts should be completely disbanded rather than merely regulated. Furthermore, Roosevelt also created the Department of Commerce and Labor to work with business leaders to agree to certain regulations and avoid more severe measures like court action or strikes.