Kevin Mason
The US tariff regime is far from over despite a US Supreme Court ruling striking down last year’s tariffs authorized by President Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Although the court noted in its ruling that the president overstepped his authority in applying reciprocal tariffs on virtually all trading partners, it did leave the door open for other means of tariff application—and the US Administration has wasted no time in charging through that door, turning to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose new global tariffs of 10% (likely moving to 15%). Tariffs under Section 122 expire after 150 days without congressional approval, but we assume other options will be put in place before expiry (Section 232, 301 or some other creative mechanism).
With respect to the forest products industry, cessation of IEEPA tariffs and application of these new Section 122 tariffs have no impact on existing lumber duties (35% remains intact), nor for any existing tariffs under Section 232 (at 10%) or goods currently compliant under USMCA (such goods remain tariff-free under Section 122). Although USMCA-compliant goods are safe from tariffs for now, with that trade deal being reviewed this summer the tariff-free flow of goods among the US, Mexico and Canada could be upended. Since almost all newsprint supply comes from Canada (see page 19), that fear is ostensibly already causing U.S. buyers to accelerate purchases. Our table details what we know at the moment about the new tariff regime (Section 122 at 10% but probably moving to 15%). Brazil and China appear to be winners in these latest moves, but, with other mechanisms available to Trump, we don’t think these recent tariff reductions are going to lead to any dramatic increase in imports from these countries (uncertainty seems to be part of the goal under Trump’s methods).
Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he sees a path to renew the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and anticipates more specifics from the U.S. administration soon. Gearing up to head back to Washington, DC next week to meet with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and “others” next week, LeBlanc said he’s “not pessimistic about renewing the trilateral framework.” “Renewing. It doesn’t expire, it expires in 2036. But the review is not a renegotiation,” LeBlanc said. LeBlanc said two of the key factors underpinning his optimism are that when US President Trump levied his latest global tariff, he maintained the CUSMA exemption, and because American political and business leaders are “speaking up more now.” …Amid speculation that Trump wants to scrap the trilateral trade pact and strike trade deals with Canada and Mexico independently, LeBlanc said the way he sees it, Trump may pursue separate bilateral deals, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of CUSMA.
Trade negotiations used to be underpinned by an unspoken assumption: that trade barriers were lose-lose propositions. All sides could gain something if they mutually disarmed. …[They] were always about how much tariffs and other walls would go down, not how much they would go up. …United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer sums up the Trump administration’s break with the postwar trade consensus, saying the administration is “focused on reshoring supply chains related to automotive, steel, aluminum … If Canada wants to come in and participate in this type of reshoring we’re trying to do, we’re happy to have those discussions.” …The U.S. wants higher tariffs at home, and lower tariffs abroad. The old give-and-take is now take-and-take. …”We want to have production here. We don’t necessarily want to be dependent on China, Canada or anybody else for things like cars.” [This article is only available to subscribers to the Globe and Mail]
Twenty years after spinning out Canfor Pulp Products as a separate entity, Canfor Corp. plans to bring it back into the fold to prevent the subsidiary from sinking. …Since December, its stock has plunged to about $0.50 per share. A March 6 shareholder vote on a plan of arrangement is just one of the vital signs indicating how bad 2025 was for the forestry sector in general, and BC forestry companies in particular. …But B.C. has been particularly hard hit with sawmill and pulp mill closures due to its fibre constraints and higher operating costs. The most recent high-profile mill closure in BC was the Domtar pulp mill in Crofton at the end of December. BC pulp mills rely on wood chips from sawmills to produce pulp. But so many sawmills have permanently shuttered in B.C. in the last few years that pulp mills now struggle to find enough fibre to run their mills.
On Dec. 2, 2025, Domtar announced it would permanently close Crofton’s nearly 70-year-old mill citing a lack of affordable fibre in BC and rising cost of materials. In response, the Municipality of North Cowichan created a Community Transition Table to coordinate union leadership, worker support and discussions on the future of the mill site. …The Discourse has compiled a timeline of major events at the Crofton mill to help understand the historical context of the latest mill closure. …1957: The mill opens and BC Forest Products (BCFP) told the citizens of Crofton it would employ 300 people and have an annual payroll of $1.5 million. Crofton was chosen as the location for the mill after an “extensive” three year survey by BCFP found the Cowichan River had adequate water supply for the mill. 1963: BCFP announced an $18.5 million expansion of the Crofton mill to expand the capacity to produce paper for its second newsprint machine.
The mayors of Squamish and 100 Mile House, B.C., want to see the railway linking their two communities preserved. CN Rail is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of a portion of B.C.’s rail network between Squamish and Exeter, just northwest of 100 Mile House. In July 2025, the national rail operator said it provided notice of its intent to discontinue those operations. 100 Mile House Mayor Maureen Pinkney says her town is working with several other municipalities to make a business case for the railway, and have hired a consultant to research the details. The rail line goes through an industrial park in 100 Mile House, explained Pinkney, connecting industries like forestry. The town’s oriented strand board plant shut down in 2019 and West Fraser closed its lumber mill at the end of last year, but Pinkney said there’s still fibre that can be utilized for other wood products.
HOUSTON, BC –Houston area First Nations were in talks to buy Canfor’s now-closed Houston sawmill and timber tenure throughout last fall, only to have an offer rejected in December, says the chief councillor from the Lake Babine Nation. “Canfor shut down all talks at once,” said Wilf Adam last week. “They did not like the price. That was it.” The company has been trying to sell its Houston and area holdings after years of rolling openings and closures in response to overall market pressure and high operations costs at the mill. …There was hope in the spring of 2023 when… but that hope was quashed in the spring of 2024 when the company announced it was shelving the prospect of a new mill. It then began looking for a buyer for the mill and tenure.
Statistics Canada says the economy capped off a volatile year with a contraction in the final quarter of 2025. The agency said that real gross domestic product declined 0.6% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter, falling short of expectations from the Bank of Canada and most economists for flat growth. Real GDP per capita was unchanged in the fourth quarter. StatCan said the main reason for the contraction was businesses drawing down their inventories. The economy swung back and forth between gains and losses every quarter last year as sharp changes in exports tied to US tariffs drove volatility in GDP data. …The agency said real GDP rose 1.7% in 2025 overall, cooling from 2% growth in each of the previous two years and marking the slowest pace of annual growth since 2016 outside the COVID-19 pandemic. “Lower exports, particularly to the United States, were the main contributor to the slower rise in GDP in 2025”.
VANCOUVER — UBC’s newest building, Gateway Health, is opening as a hub for student health, interdisciplinary teaching and collaborative research. The 270,550-square-foot building gives a purpose-built home to the school of nursing, consolidates kinesiology programs from eight campus locations, and centralizes student health and wellbeing services for the first time. …
BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) staff have returned to B.C. after supporting Forest Fire Management Victoria in Australia for the past month with wildfire-fighting efforts. “Our world-class BC Wildfire Service has once again stepped up on the global stage,” said Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests. “As we prepare for the 2026 wildfire season, our BCWS crews consistently demonstrate exceptional skills, courage and professionalism wherever they’re called to serve.” On Jan. 25, 2026, BCWS deployed 37 people to the state of Victoria to help respond to the Walwa River Road fire and provide support in the Tallangatta Incident Control Centre. The team consisted of a 15-person incident management team, a 20-person fire crew and two agency representatives. …Ahead of this year’s wildfire season, B.C. continues work to keep people and communities safe by focusing on all four pillars of emergency management: prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
The February 2026 FGC eNewsletter highlights several key developments in forest genetics across British Columbia and beyond. It introduces Dan Nadir, RPF, as the new Executive Secretariat for FGC, succeeding Brian Barber, and outlines his forestry background and experience. The newsletter promotes an upcoming BC Seed Orchard Association webinar on March 12, featuring presentations on seed extraction and orchard management from Quebec and New Brunswick. Recent events where forest genetics featured prominently are covered, including presentations on seed planning in a changing climate at the Western Forestry Contractors’ Association conference and FGC’s participation at the Forest Professionals BC conference. The update also highlights a new national report identifying challenges and solutions for improving Canada’s tree seed supply chain. Finally, it lists upcoming meetings and conferences in 2026, such as tree improvement workshops and international seed orchard conferences, encouraging engagement and continued professional development.
In this newsletter you will find:
How the hell did we end up in this situation? It’s a question that everyone involved in BC’s wood products business has asked themselves during the last few years. The question doesn’t have a simple answer. Instead, there are several contributing factors that have steered the forest industry into its current mess. But two problems are of critical importance now: securing reliable fibre access and dealing calmly with the international uncertainty triggered by US President Donald Trump’s lust for world trade dominance and military supremacy. But the BC forest industry has deep roots and some of the issues which began long ago have now come home to roost. All at the same time. They’ve created a confluence of concerns. That’s evident in the silent sawmills, the scattering of a skilled workforce—and communities in crisis throughout the BC interior.
MISSION — Hundreds of Mission residents are hoping to stop a logging project at its root before the first branch breaks. The Hatzic Valley Community Association recently issued an advisory regarding plans to log between Eng and Kussman Roads, with construction set to begin this summer if Forest Service Road Proposal 2801 is permitted. Residents were then advised to share their thoughts about terrain stability, historical flooding and landslide events, or watershed concerns in the area before March 6 with the Chilliwack District Tenures Team. As of Thursday, February 26, a petition was started to stop the project, citing the watershed’s 44-year history of repeated debris flows, landslides and destructive flooding that have once damaged 45 homes in a single storm and relocated entire creek channels through residential areas.
Results from a targeted deer hunt in the Cranbrook area show no new detections of chronic wasting disease (CWD), supporting ongoing efforts to contain and manage the disease in southeastern B.C. From Jan. 5-31, 2026, a general open-season deer hunt was implemented in a defined area near Cranbrook to bolster sampling efforts and reduce the risk of CWD spreading to surrounding deer and elk populations. A total of 228 deer were harvested during the hunt. All samples submitted for testing were negative for CWD. Of the deer harvested and tested, 79% were white-tailed deer and 21% were mule deer. Although no animals tested positive, targeted hunts within the established management zone aim to reduce deer population and density, providing fewer opportunities for close contact between animals and limiting the risk of CWD spread.
The newsletter highlights the ongoing work of the Forest Enhancement Society of BC (FESBC) as it enters its tenth year of operations, showcasing the positive impact of FESBC-funded partners on forests across British Columbia. It opens with a safety tip from the BC Forest Safety Council aimed at improving workplace orientations and on-the-ground safety. FESBC also invites readers to participate in its Decade in Review, asking for stories about memorable, locally meaningful projects that have strengthened forests or communities. The newsletter introduces FESBC’s new Administrative Assistant, Jen Kulchar, and celebrates community forestry by linking to the BC Community Forest Association’s new film, Rooted Together. It also features a Faces of Forestry profile on Hengda Liu and shares additional news on FESBC-related forestry developments and partnerships. Throughout, the focus remains on collaboration, forest resilience, and the people driving meaningful forestry work province-wide.
Many people in British Columbia, including those living in remote First Nations communities, still rely on forestry revenue to keep the lights on. But as the forestry industry continues to wade through economic uncertainty, outdated forest legislation and – in some regions – a declining fibre supply, one can’t help but wonder: Could shifting gears to tourism pay the bills? “We watched the fishing industry decline …Now we’re watching the forestry decline. We are in a place where we need to look at other options…. I think tourism is a great option for that story,” said Paula Amos, Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC). The harvest tenure for TFL 61 is held by Pacheedaht Andersen Timber Holdings (PATH) and managed by Angus Hope. … “There are a lot of challenges,” Hope says. From the “glacial pace” of government to the high cost of getting the logs to market, Hope says the status quo just doesn’t make sense anymore.
The head of an Indigenous-owned forestry company in New Brunswick says that provincial government statements about consultation with Indigenous communities over forestry policy are “hollow” without efforts to increase self-determination. Annie Simoneau, owner of L’Puk’Tuwis Forestry — which is based in Natoaganeg, also called Eel Ground First Nation — says that most small Indigenous communities currently lack the capacity to cut and manage their own timber. “Many are forced to rely on large forestry companies or urban-based contractors to do the harvesting for them. Those companies decide the methods — and too often that means clear-cutting, followed by herbicide spraying,” she told the NB Media Co-op. “That’s not self-determination,” she continued. “That’s dependency created by decades of policy that withheld equipment, training, and access from First Nations, then turned around and said, ‘You were consulted.’”
Drax Group is launching a strategic review of its Canadian pellet operations due to a constrained fiber market and low margins. …CEO Will Gardiner discussed the company’s changing pellet production strategy. …“Our US business is fundamentally part of our UK supply chain. That business is doing very well As you will have seen, our Canadian business is more challenged, and we’ve been talking about this for some time as margins have come down due to fiber costs rising in Canada more rapidly than indexed power prices in Asia. As we noted last year, this dynamic contributed to the decision we’ve made to close one of our pellet plants in Williams Lake towards the end of last year.” As a result, Drax is not currently expecting to commit any additional capital to the pellet production segment, including the paused pellet plant planned for development in Longview, Washington.
Transport truck drivers have the most injury claims for work-related crashes of any occupation in BC over the last 10 years. And driver fatigue is a contributing factor in many crashes. Developing a strategy for reducing driver fatigue is smart business. It can help save lives and reduce the risk of injuries. It can also help you meet your legal responsibilities. Use Road Safety at Work’s no-cost resources to create or enhance your fatigue management strategy. Transport truck drivers account for nearly one-quarter of all injury claims from work-related vehicle crashes in our province, according to WorkSafeBC. …A successful fatigue management strategy depends on an effective safety culture and employee engagement. Encourage drivers to report fatigue and to pull over for a short rest when they feel it. Discuss it at safety meetings. Make fatigue part of your fit for duty assessments. Emphasize the importance of adequate sleep.