The US Justice Department’s antitrust division was told earlier this week to suspend work with Canadian government counterparts as a widening trade dispute between the two neighboring countries escalates, according to a report.
Lynda Marshall, who heads the antitrust division’s international section, instructed officials on Wednesday to stop cooperation with Canadian authorities on active cases and policy matters, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing emails it obtained. The message did not include an explanation for the order, according to the newspaper.
In a separate email sent Friday, section chiefs in the antitrust division were asked to submit, by the end of the day, lists identifying areas where the division works with Canada, the Journal reported.
The Justice Department pushed back on the report, saying in a statement that the “alleged direction was never given to anyone.”
According to the department, the division had been asked only to “temporarily hold off on a scheduled meeting on a specific investigation until the DOJ’s antitrust team had more time to prepare.”
The reported pause comes as the US and Canada, longtime allies with deeply intertwined economies, remain locked in a dispute over President Donald Trump’s trade war against Ottawa and his broader targeting of America’s northern neighbor. Most recently, that included an executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.”
The name change applies only within the US federal government, meaning Canada, international organizations and individual US states are not required to adopt the rebranding. Still, the move has added another point of friction to relations between Washington and Ottawa since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
The trade war has already resulted in tariffs affecting tens of billions of dollars in goods moving across the US-Canada border.
The Canadian government said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on the US beginning Sept. 8 in response to the Trump administration’s new 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, which took effect last month.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada “will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses.”
