The Justice Department’s antitrust division was briefly instructed to pause cooperation with Canadian authorities this week, as trade tensions continue to escalate between the two countries.
Lynda Marshall, chief of the Antitrust Division’s international section, directed officials in a Wednesday email with the subject line “Pause on Canada” to halt cooperation on cases and engagement on policy issues with Canadian authorities, according to emails reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. She did not provide a reason for the directive, saying she would provide further guidance if the policy changed.
On Friday, section chiefs were also asked to provide lists detailing the division’s areas of cooperation with Canada.
The directive involved a long-standing area of U.S.-Canadian cooperation. The Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Canada’s Competition Bureau have worked together for decades on cross-border antitrust matters, including merger reviews and investigations into potential anticompetitive conduct. The agencies have agreements and established practices for coordinating investigations, sharing information when permitted, and working toward consistent outcomes when a merger affects both countries.
The Justice Department later said the directive resulted from a misunderstanding and that the Antitrust Division would continue cooperating with its Canadian counterparts, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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The episode comes as Washington and Ottawa remain locked in a trade dispute. Negotiations toward a new agreement have broken down, prompting the Trump administration to impose tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of additional Canadian goods, while Canada has organized retaliatory tariffs of its own.
President Donald Trump went after his northern neighbor in other ways during the dispute. He recently signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” arguing that Canada has “been ripping us off for a long time on trade.”