Overview
- The Antitrust Division received an email titled “Pause on Canada” that instructed staff to stop cooperating with Canadian authorities, a message sent on Wednesday and reported this week.
- The department told reporters the broad pause was never intended and spokeswoman Emily Covington said the note stemmed from a misunderstanding about rescheduling a specific meeting.
- Lynda Marshall, who led the instruction, later sent a follow-up correcting the error and the division resumed cooperation with Canadian counterparts.
- Section chiefs were asked in a later internal message to compile lists of areas of U.S.‑Canada antitrust cooperation, a step officials say is meant to inventory ongoing cross‑border work.
- The episode highlights risks to joint merger reviews and cartel probes that rely on routine information sharing and comes as U.S.–Canada trade tensions are raising political scrutiny of bilateral enforcement.