Canada withdrew challenges against some import taxes the US levied against softwood lumber in what the government called a “strategic choice,” as Prime Minister Carney seeks a trade deal with President Trump. The government has revoked two separate claims disputing US anti-dumping duties on softwood lumber based on trading between June 2017 and December 2019, according to Canada’s Global Affairs department. “Canada has made this decision in close consultation with Canadian industry, provinces and key partners, and it reflects a strategic choice to maximize long-term interests and prospects for a negotiated resolution with the US,” John Babcock said. …The move follows a pattern of Carney’s government trying to remove so-called trade irritants in pursuit of a wider settlement with the Trump administration, which has erected tariffs against key Canadian industries like steel and autos, as well as a 35% “emergency” tariff against other goods if they aren’t compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
Canada is expected to announce it’s launching formal consultations on the North American trade pact within the next week, after the Trump administration kicked off its own review and the US ambassador said a larger deal is “not going to happen” soon. Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc’s office said the government is expected to imminently post an official notice seeking the public’s comments and feedback about the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). In preparation for the review, “Canada will be engaging with Canadian industry leaders, provinces and territories and Indigenous partners,” LeBlanc’s office said. The US announced Tuesday it’s formally starting consultations to evaluate the agreement’s results over the past five years. …The formal negotiations to review CUSMA could begin in early 2026. …The prime minister and several ministers are headed to Mexico… an effort to shore up support ahead of the CUSMA review.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is embarking on a pivotal meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, just as the United States officially launches the process to review the North American trade agreement. The Office of the US Trade Representative will seek public comments on the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) over 45 days and has scheduled a public hearing in November. Public consultation is required by law and is a clear sign that the Trump administration is preparing to renegotiate, not just review, the trilateral agreement, says Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group. Under the current agreement, Canada’s trade with the U.S. is 85% tariff free, but that could change when CUSMA expires next June. …It’s under this pressure that Carney is meeting with Sheinbaum to 
WASHINGTON
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) is pressing lawmakers to advance federal wildfire legislation, warning that inaction risks worsening losses for communities nationwide. …Sam Whitfield explained that federal reforms are essential to reduce wildfire risks, strengthen community resilience and protect lives and property. The House has passed its version of the Fix Our Forests Act, or H.R. 471, in January. In April, a companion bill, or S. 1462, was introduced in the Senate. Both bills align with recommendations from the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. Provisions include reducing fuel loads in forests and rangelands, preventing utility infrastructure from sparking fires through vegetation management, and promoting community wildfire risk reduction. …The insurance industry has faced mounting wildfire-related losses. …Insurers have responded by tightening underwriting standards, reducing capacity in wildfire-exposed areas, and relying more heavily on reinsurance to absorb catastrophic risks.
Trade associations representing various industries issued a letter Tuesday expressing “serious concerns” about a proposed merger between major rail companies Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific. “We write to express our serious concerns and reservations about the proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern,” said the letter, which came from trade associations representing manufacturing, chemical, energy and agriculture firms. “Past rail mergers have shown what happens when consolidation goes unchecked: service suffers, costs increase, and jobs disappear,” the trade groups wrote to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. …The railroad companies, however, have argued that the merger will be a benefit to the country, improving efficiency and allowing for more routes. …In addition to the American Chemistry Council, signatories of the letter include the American Petroleum Institute, International Dairy Foods Association and the American Forest and Paper Association.
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. — A family-owned sawmill plans to create 18 jobs by opening a multi-million facility in northern Horry County amid high-profile shutdowns of other sites across the region. “This facility will support area businesses impacted by recent closures, and we’re proud to expand our services and give back to the region that has supported us,” Matthew Johnson, founder of Galivants Ferry Sawmill, said in a news release shared on Facebook by the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation. In August, Canfor closed its Darlington and Estill plants — eliminating 290 jobs in a move it blamed on “an extended period of consistently weak market conditions.” And in December, Georgetown County’s International Paper ended operations, cutting 674 jobs. The Galivants Ferry facility on McCracken Road will support the local timber industry and help fill the gap left by those closures
JONESBORO — The Arkansas State University System board of trustees approved several policy changes during a meeting Friday at Arkansas State University. Trustees approved a policy to “ensure the efficient disposition of real property,” effective immediately. …Trustees also approved creation of a new hire and annual employee training policy — effective Jan. 1, 2026 — as the system doesn’t currently have a mandatory training policy. …Trustees approved naming the workforce training center at Arkansas State University Three Rivers for West Fraser for the next decade. …West Fraser “has made significant contributions to ASU Three Rivers, of a magnitude worthy of special gratitude and lasting recognition, including funding that will provide program support for workforce development and generous support through sponsorships, donations, resources, and collaboration that has created significant revenue for the college,” according to the resolution. …Over the past eight years, the college has collaborated on more than 15,000 training hours with West Fraser.
Lumber futures fell back below $570 per thousand board feet in September, reflecting the struggles in the US housing market. Builders are scaling back new construction amid a recent inventory glut and growing economic uncertainty, while the Trump administration’s fluctuating stance on tariffs for imported lumber over the past few months has added further volatility. Meanwhile, a significant gap remains between the number of homes for sale and the demand from Americans seeking housing. Affordability challenges have caused many buyers to withdraw in recent months, keeping construction activity muted throughout 2025. However, recent cuts in US interest rates, along with prospects of further easing, have helped curb some of the losses. Without a substantial increase in new home demand, the subdued pace of construction is likely to persist, as builders continue to compete with the steadily growing inventory of existing homes. [END]
When the Trump administration more than doubled import fees on Canadian softwood lumber earlier this year, the goal was to support domestic prices and boost US production. Instead, prices have plunged, and mills on both sides of the border are scaling back. A benchmark for the commodity mostly used in construction has plunged 18% since an August peak to the lowest in seven months, driven by sluggish homebuilding activity and a glut of inventory. The drop shows how protectionist measures aren’t always enough to protect domestic industries from broader market dynamics at a time when high interest rates and elevated costs are squeezing consumers and weighing on their confidence, dampening demand for new homes. …“The US producers were looking for more of a price bump from the duties, and they didn’t get one,” said Brooks Mendell, at Forisk Consulting. “The interpretation of that is, well, the demand isn’t there.” 
Higher duty rate and possible additional tariffs have transportation modes on edge. The softwood lumber dispute threatens to have repercussions on various transportation modes, particularly trucking. “Our members are saying their business is still okay, even with the softer rates due to mill overcapacity, but they’re worried that if anyone pushes on this wall with more tariffs, there’s nothing to hold it up,” says Dave Earle, the BC Trucking Association’s CEO. …Trucking has already been dealing with the overcapacity that was put in place for the greater demands for deliveries for most everything during the pandemic but has not subsided. …In terms of rail services, CPKC has seen its forest product shipments rise this year to date based on revenue ton miles. …At the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia, the potential to export more lumber is significant with approximately half of last year’s containers leaving the port empty. 
Cardboard-box demand is slumping, flashing a potential warning about the health of the American consumer given that goods ranging from pizzas to ovens are transported in corrugated packaging. A historic run of pulp-mill closures is also signaling problems for the companies that make corrugated packaging as well as the timberland owners who sell them wood. International Paper, the country’s biggest box maker, announced last month the shutdown of two US containerboard mills, which make the brown paper that is folded into corrugated packaging. …It is a surprising turn in the e-commerce era. Box makers and analysts say demand presently suffers from uncertainty in US boardrooms and export markets because of President Trump’s tariffs as well as from weakening consumer spending. The sputtering housing market has also hurt, reducing the need for moving boxes as well as packaging for building products and appliances. [to access the full story a WSJ subscription is required]
Single-family housing permits slipped for the seventh month in a row, highlighting affordability headwinds and weak demand. While multifamily permits ticked up, the sector’s volatility leaves the outlook uncertain. The split underscores a housing market still under strain, with single-family softness weighing on broader growth prospects. Over the first seven months of 2025, the total number of single-family permits issued year-to-date (YTD) nationwide reached 565,208. On a year-over-year (YoY) basis, this is a decline of 5.7% over the July 2024 level of 599,308. For multifamily, the total number of permits issued nationwide reached 286,836. This is 2.6% higher compared to the July 2024 level of 279,618.
Housing starts in the US fell last month to the lowest since May, as bloated home inventory slowed builders’ appetites to boost production. New residential construction decreased 8.5% last month to an annualized rate of 1.31 million homes, government data released Wednesday showed. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economist was for 1.37 million starts. Meantime, starts of one-family homes fell 7% to an annualized 890,000, the lowest in more than a year. Multifamily construction, which has helped lift overall construction in recent months, also declined, falling nearly 12% to a three-month low. …Traders expect the Federal Reserve to trim interest rates multiple times this year, starting on Wednesday. And separate data out Wednesday showed mortgage rates fell last week to the lowest level in nearly a year, spurring a surge in refinancing.
ORONO, Maine — At the 
One of the great challenges of ecology is to understand the factors that maintain, or undermine, diversity in ecosystems, researchers write in a 
US Secretary of Agriculture Rollins issued a 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced this summer it was moving to rescind the Roadless Rule, a 2001 law that protects large swaths of National Forest land from development. That includes more than half of the Tongass National Forest, where Juneau is located. On Saturday, more than 100 people gathered in the state capital to protest the move. …Alaska’s Congressional delegation unanimously supports the rollback of the Roadless Rule. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has said that most of the Tongass would still be protected without it — the parts of the forest that are already designated as wilderness. …But protesters say Alaskans have more to lose in risks to the land and waterways than what they have to gain through further development. Lingít elders and fishing and tourism industry experts took the mic Saturday to deliver a message: the Roadless Rule should be left alone.
WASHINGTON — Evidence that climate change harms public health is “beyond scientific dispute,” the independent National Academy of Sciences said in response to the Trump administration’s efforts to revoke a landmark U.S. government finding to that effect that underpins key environmental regulations. The NAS, a non-governmental nonprofit set up to advise the government on science, said human activity is releasing greenhouse gases that are warming the planet, increasing extreme temperatures and changing the oceans, all dangerous developments for the health and welfare of the United States public. Evidence to that effect has only grown stronger since 2009, the group said. In July, the Trump administration proposed revoking what’s known as the 2009 “endangerment” finding, the concept that climate change is a threat. Overturning it could pave the way for cutting a range of rules that limit pollution from cars, power plants and other sources.
The American Biomass Energy Association and Pellet Fuels Institute are among 400-plus associations, businesses and landowners representing the forest products sector that sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Sept. 8 urging immediate action to stabilize the U.S. forestry sector and its access to markets in the face of mounting mill closures, devastating natural disasters, pests and diseases, and unfair foreign trade practices. “Together, these forces are pushing many landowners to exit forestry altogether,” the groups wrote. “If forests are abandoned or converted, the consequences for our domestic timber supply, as well as markets for housing, infrastructure, consumer products, energy, rural livelihoods, and environmental security, will be severe. …The letter outlines four immediate steps the Trump administration can take to spark job creation and economic growth. This includes promoting the use of biomass for electricity and expanding the definition of qualifying wood biomass under the Renewable Fuel Standard. 
Wildfire smoke is the air quality nightmare of our generation, eating away at previous gains made by cracking down on industrial emissions and tailpipe pollution. Constant exposure to smoke is becoming a chronic threat even in places that historically haven’t had many wildfires. …All that smoke is projected to lead to tens of thousands more premature deaths in the coming years, according to a pair of eye-opening research papers published today in the journal Nature. …“Increasing wildfire smoke is a lived experience now for most people around the US,” 
