DOJ Froze Canada Cooperation Over Misread Email
DOJ Froze Canada Cooperation Over Misread Email
The News
The Justice Department's antitrust division halted all cooperation with the Canadian government this week after a senior official misread an instruction, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Lynda Marshall, chief of the antitrust division's international section, had been told to push back a scheduled meeting. Instead she sent staff an email with the subject line "Pause on Canada" ordering them to stop all case cooperation and policy engagement with Canadian authorities.
Marshall gave no reason in the email, writing only that she would "circle back if the guidance changes," according to the Journal. She corrected herself later Friday, and the division has resumed working with Canada.
Timeline
Trade talks between Washington and Ottawa break down, with the U.S. and Canada imposing tariffs on each other.
Marshall sends the "Pause on Canada" email after being told to reschedule a meeting, instructing the antitrust division to stop all work with the Canadian government.
A follow-up email goes to section chiefs demanding lists of every area of cooperation with Canada by the end of the day. Later the same day, Marshall tells staff she was mistaken and that cooperation can continue.
The Wall Street Journal publishes the account; Reuters and other outlets pick it up.
Reactions
Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Covington told the Journal that the stop-work directive followed a misunderstanding — Marshall had been told only to push back a scheduled meeting.
Representatives for Canada and its Competition Bureau did not respond to the Journal's request for comment.
What's Next
The antitrust division is back at work with its Canadian counterparts, according to the Journal. The larger question is the trade fight itself: tariffs remain in place on both sides after talks collapsed last month, and there is no announced date for negotiations to resume.
More
The freeze, brief as it was, touched a long-running partnership. The Journal noted that U.S. and Canadian antitrust authorities have multiple agreements in place to deepen cooperation and have worked joint investigations since the 2000s — including price-fixing probes in the auto parts and air cargo industries and merger cases in tech, aerospace and other sectors.
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