Discourse around the world increasingly focuses on the global nature of competition law, and perhaps more practically for many industry participants, the global nature of competition law enforcement. Many firms across a wide array of industries are significant participants in multiple international jurisdictions. Such firms must consider the antitrust regulatory and enforcement environment of these multiple jurisdictions before engaging in competitively sensitive conduct involving either unilateral action or arrangements with suppliers, customers or competitors.

The international community of competition law scholars and regulators have also recognized the pressing need for the members of the global community to come together and meaningfully coordinate their enforcement efforts. Leaders of the U.S. antitrust enforcement agencies—Chair Lina Khan of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Jonathan Kanter of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ)—recently participated in a conference with leaders of other competition authorities around the world to discuss their enforcement priorities and the importance of better collaboration in their enforcement efforts. On Sept. 13, 2022, AAG Kanter presented the keynote speech at the 16th Annual Global Antitrust Enforcement Symposium, which featured a panel of leaders of three national competition authorities—Reiko Aoki, Commissioner of the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC); Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC); and Alexandre Cordeiro Macedo, President of the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE)—and Frédéric Jenny, Chair of the Competition Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which represents the interests of 38 member countries. Later that day, AAG Kanter and Chair Khan hosted a trilateral competition enforcement meeting with the United States’ immediate northern and southern neighbors: Matthew Boswell, Commissioner of the Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) and Brenda Hernández, Acting Chair Commissioner of the Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE). This trilateral North American meeting marked the first such meeting since 2019 (due to COVID-19) of the three countries’ federal antitrust enforcement agencies.