Marc Carney
Negotiations have been taking place as the US has been fundamentally transforming all its trading relationships. …In a positive development, earlier this month, the US reaffirmed a core commitment to our free trade agreement, Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), by reinforcing that those Canadian exports to the US that are compliant with CUSMA will not be subject to US IEEPA tariffs. As a result, the actual US average tariff rate on Canadian goods is 5.6% and remains the lowest among all its trading partners, and more than 85% of Canada-US trade is now tariff-free. …In this context and consistent with Canada’s commitment to CUSMA, I am announcing that the Canadian government will now match the US by removing all of Canada’s tariffs on US goods specifically covered under CUSMA. This decision will take effect on September 1, 2025. …The Canadian government will begin our preparations for the CUSMA review process due next year.
Related coverage by Katie DeRosa in CBC News: BC jobs minister surprised at Ottawa’s move to drop retaliatory tariffs against US
The US Court of International Trade threw out a legal challenge from Canadian softwood lumber producers J.D. Irving Ltd. granting a motion-to-dismiss from the Commerce Department. Timothy Reif said in the opinion that J.D. Irving, which had challenged Commerce’s 2022 antidumping administrate review on grounds that the agency erred by assigning a higher cash deposit rate in the order, has its proper venue under a binational panel though the USMCA now reviewing the Commerce order. While the Canadian firm said it was challenging not the Commerce fine order but the instruction for the cash deposit rate. Reif said the challenge entered on the commerce final result and thus should rest before the USMCA panel. [to access the full story, a MLex.com subscription is required]
President Donald Trump on Friday announced he’s directing his administration to investigate imports of furniture into the United States that will lead to higher tariffs by October. “Within the next 50 days, that Investigation will be completed, and Furniture coming from other Countries into the United States will be Tariffed at a Rate yet to be determined,” Trump wrote. “This will bring the Furniture Business back to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, and States all across the Union,” Trump said. …Already, furniture prices have been increasing over the past few months as Trump hiked tariffs on countries including China and Vietnam, the top two sources of imported furniture. Both countries imported $12 billion worth of furniture and fixtures last year, according to US Commerce Department data. …Furniture stocks, such as Wayfair, William-Sonoma and Restoration Hardware, all tanked in after-hours trading Friday.
We welcome the recent announcement from the White House regarding the US–EU Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade. Notably, the European Union has committed to addressing U.S. concerns about the EUDR, acknowledging that US commodity production poses negligible risk to global deforestation. This recognition is a positive step toward ensuring Southern Pine lumber producers and exporters are not unfairly burdened by regulations that fail to account for the sustainability and stewardship practices already in place within the American forestry sector. …The EUDR’s stringent traceability requirements (such as geolocation data for every plot of land from which timber is sourced) present serious compliance obstacles for U.S. producers. …Recognizing the broad impact of the EUDR across multiple agricultural sectors, the forest products industry is strategically voicing its objections through official trade and commerce channels.
The US International Trade Commission determined on August 21 that revoking the existing antidumping duty order and countervailing duty order on wooden cabinets and vanities from China would likely lead to “continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.” The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA) said that ruling “means that the antidumping and countervailing duty orders will remain in place for at least another five years and continue to provide relief to the US domestic industry from dumped and subsidized merchandise from China.” As a result of the Commission’s affirmative determinations, the existing orders on imports of these products will remain in place. …The action comes under the five-year (sunset) review process required by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. The Commission’s public report on Wooden Cabinets and Vanities from China will be available by October 3, 2025.
The timber industry, a cornerstone of South Carolina’s economy, is grappling the closure of several key mills. The recent shutdowns of mills in Darlington and Estill have sent ripples through the local supply chain, affecting forest management and the livelihoods of many in the industry. …The timber industry in South Carolina is struggling with significant challenges after major mill closures, including the International Paper Mill in Georgetown, the WestRock Plant in Charleston, the International Paper in Savannah and the Containerboard Mill in Riceboro. Michael Campbell, president and CEO of the South Carolina Timber Producers Association, highlighted the broader economic impact. “It’s a widespread county thing because the loggers tend to haul up to 100 miles away from the mill, so within 100 miles of that mill everything’s impacted,” he said. Despite some new mill announcements, Campbell said they are insufficient to compensate for the lost wood volume.
DARLINGTON COUNTY, South Carolina — Monday marked the last day of operation at the Canfor sawmill in Darlington. The mill announced its closure 
Lumber futures have come under strain after the initial tariff-driven upswing has fizzled out and the cracks in the housing market are beginning to show… retreating from an early August high of ~$695 per thousand board feet to about $560, a decline of nearly 19.5%, making it just shy of the 20% mark that would push it into a technical bear market. Lumber futures saw a surge driven by tariffs and optimism over lower interest rates, which pushed prices to their highest levels in more than three years. However, the enthusiasm soon faded away, as recent housing data disappointed, and builders scaled back due to higher input costs, weaker demand and looming affordability challenges. Housing affordability remains stretched even with potential rate cuts, requiring better wage growth or increased supply for meaningful improvement, according to Rafe Jadrosich, Senior US Homebuilders and Building Products analyst.
The United States is the top wood-importing country. Trade issues and tariffs could be a significant factor in determining the path of least resistance for lumber, lumber futures, and wood product prices over the coming weeks and months. …The offseason for lumber demand is on the horizon. The potential for increased price variance due to the uncertainty created by U.S.-Canada trade relations remains high, and the path of least resistance of U.S. short-term interest rates is likely to be lower. Time will tell if longer-term rates follow any Fed Rate cuts over the coming months. Lumber remains a critical construction material, and the current price levels offer a positive risk-reward profile. Accumulating lumber-related assets on a scale-down basis during periods of price weakness over the coming weeks and months could be optimal for 2026, provided the housing market improves and lumber demand rises. 
This study investigates the economic impact of sawmill entry and exits in Michigan between 2019 and 2023, a period marked by ongoing structural changes in the industry, including the closure of several large mills and the opening of smaller or mid-sized operations. Using observed employment changes… we applied an employment-based multiplier analysis to estimate how net sawmill job losses affected the statewide economy. The results show that while only 273 direct jobs were lost due to net changes from sawmill entry and exit during this period, the broader ripple effects were much larger, approximately 820 jobs and $211 million in output loss. These effects were most pronounced in labor-intensive sectors such as logging and transportation, as well as in downstream sectors like wholesale trade and real estate. The findings highlight the central role of sawmills in regional supply chains and states labor markets, with two-thirds of job losses occurring outside the mills themselves.
When Millard Dority came out of retirement to oversee the expansion of Jesup Memorial Library, he had one goal: to prove that Maine could produce its own cross-laminated timber. Instead, he uncovered a glaring hole in the state’s forest economy. …But with no CLT factories in Maine, the wood had to be trucked from New England to Illinois for processing, then hauled back to Bar Harbor—a headache in a state blanketed by forests. …The Jesup Library expansion is one of just 27 CLT projects in Maine, using spruce-pine-fir and eastern hemlock from New England. Forestry expert Andy Fast said these underused species are finding new life through CLT, but warned, “Supply chain efficiencies will determine whether it’s a viable product longer term.” Despite interest, Maine has failed to land a CLT manufacturer. LignaTerra Global and SmartLam both announced plans in 2018, only to back out. [to access the full story a Bangor Daily News subscription is required].
Canada’s forests are burning. …Smoke from these fires has degraded air quality across Canada and the US. The situation has led some US policymakers to publicly blame Canada for failing to manage wildfires and to demand more active forest management. These critiques are hypocritical, given their record of climate change denial. …Yet beyond partisan politics, the US continues to impose tariffs on Canadian lumber, undermining our capacity to invest in stronger forest management. …Eliminating or reducing US tariffs would instantly raise the value of Canada’s standing forest stock, sending a price signal that makes forestry activity viable in regions that are currently too remote or costly to harvest. At the margin, higher returns would unlock investment in better forest management, including areas that are now left untouched because they are uneconomic to service. …Lifting tariffs would be the first step, but it would not be a cure-all. 
The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) was developed in 1994 for the 24 million acres of federal land within the range of the northern spotted owl… A network of large reserves for the spotted owl across its range (late successional reserves (LSRs)) were created in the NWFP along with a system of riparian buffers to protect streamside areas. …The Forest Service is currently updating the NWFP and chartered a committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to help advise on amending the plan. …We strongly endorse this proposal for widespread restoration treatments in dry forests inside and outside of the LSRs. Reducing stand densities in these forests while retaining all trees over 150 years of age is essential to owl survival, as is reintroduction of fire as a regular management tool. …Integrating forest restoration in dry forests with spotted owl conservation is one of the biggest challenges in updating the NWFP.
Oregon’s forestry sector, once the state’s driving industry, has scaled back dramatically, the result of modernization and reduced harvests since the 1990s. Yet the industry is still adding workers and looking to replace retirees — now with a growing demand for technical expertise. The industry’s employers say they’re struggling to fill the jobs they have. Retirements have thinned the ranks, turnover is high and new workers are hard to recruit. Adding to the trouble, a workforce study found the sector will add 3,400 jobs annually through 2030. In particular, the report found Oregon’s colleges and universities aren’t producing enough forestry graduates to meet demand — suggesting Oregon employers might have to recruit from elsewhere to staff some of the highest-paying jobs in a signature sector. It’s a counterintuitive finding for an industry that’s been cutting further in recent months through the closures of mills and factories. Officials say that’s because there’s more to forestry work than logging.
Mechanization has reduced fatal injuries for loggers in the northeastern United States but introduced new health risks linked to prolonged equipment use, according to interviews with 29 loggers across New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Participants reported concerns over weight gain, back pain, and cardiovascular risks from extended sedentary work, as well as mental stress from financial burdens and limited access to affordable health insurance. The findings come 
A wildfire that destroyed four homes in central Oregon was starting to stabilize on Monday, authorities said, while a blaze in Northern California wine country has so far spared some of the state’s most famous vineyards. Moisture helped the 1,200 firefighters battling Oregon’s Flat Fire, but more work needed to be done. Dry, hot weather had fueled a rapid expansion of the blaze across 34 square miles of rugged terrain in Deschutes and Jefferson counties since the fire began late Thursday. …Officials said firefighters had protective lines of some sort around the entire fire, including roads, but the fire remained at 5% containment. …Meanwhile, the Pickett Fire in Northern California has charred about 10 square miles of remote Napa County, known for its hundreds of wineries. It was 15% contained on Monday. …western United States have been sweltering in a heat wave … with temperatures hitting dangerous levels in Washington, Oregon, Southern California, Nevada and Arizona.
