Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on a swathe of U.S. goods took effect on Tuesday after trade talks collapsed last month, as relations between Washington and Ottawa continue to sour. The duties range from 15% to 50% across hundreds of U.S. products worth a total $27.6 billion, including dairy, agricultural equipment, paper, household appliances and electronics. Canadian tariffs on U.S. steel, aluminum and iron products doubled to 50%, while furniture, motorbikes, clothing and some beauty products were among the goods hit with the highest rate. …U.S. President Trump on Monday called for a boycott of Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier, posting on Truth Social: “NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!” The U.S. exported $333.6 billion worth of goods to Canada, and imported $381.9 billion from its northern neighbor. …Economists say that while the impacted goods are a relatively small portion of overall trade, small- to medium-sized businesses and those in the most-impacted sectors face a severe blow.
Related coverage by:
- Associated Press: What to know about Canada’s escalating trade war with the US
- The Canadian Press: These are the US goods hit by Canada’s retaliatory tariffs
The complete index of American products subject to Canadian retaliatory tariffs on September 8 include more than 600 different entries. Searching for patterns can drive you to madness. Butterfly nets will be hit with a 50 percent tariff. So will eye make-up preparations and fish egg incubators. …When asked about the decision-making process, industry minister Mélanie Joly said some goods are meant to hurt Trump-supporting states, though she declined to say which. …States with Republican senators, such as Maine, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, and Texas, all have substantive trade relationships with Canada—and are considered possible battleground states. Some experts are calling the issue “a political trap for Republicans,” with Democrats already seizing on the matter as a talking point. Here’s a look at some of the red states vulnerable to Canada’s new round of tariffs and the industries that may feel the most hardship.
The more the United States undertakes comprehensive efforts to reduce its vulnerability to Chinese economic coercion, the more important it becomes for Canada and Mexico to align their own policies. Misaligned tariff rates across the three countries incentivize the transshipment of Chinese goods to U.S. consumers. …Fundamental differences among the three countries allow for specialization based on what workers and companies in each do best. …Trump’s 2025 and 2026 tariffs pursued too many contradictory objectives. Beijing’s economic coercion clarified the most important task: to quickly create new sources of supply outside China. The ongoing USMCA negotiations present a political opportunity to pursue that objective by better aligning the countries’ tariff policies along three dimensions. …Then, Canada and Mexico need to raise some of their tariffs on China. …The most immediate need is for the Trump administration to stop implementing policies and circulating rhetoric that undermine North American unity.
Since 1894, Americans have enjoyed an extended weekend built on the backs of workers who fought for the American Dream. With East Texas’s history rich in the oil, timber, agriculture and manufacturing sectors, historian Dr. M. Rhys Dotson, talks about the significance of Labor Day in East Texas. …On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September the national holiday, which recognizes the American Labor Movement and achievements of American workers, but Labor Day began many years beforehand. “The origins go back to Manhattan and New York City where you had labor organizers coming together to advocate for workers’ rights,” Dotson said. …In the late 1880s, many states already adopted the holiday and the 1894 Pullman nationwide railroad strike which led to severe economic consequences for the U.S. pushed Cleveland to kick off the reconstruction of American labor law and resulted in the federal Labor Day holiday.
BOISE, Idaho — Tensions between the US and its second-largest trade partner — and Idaho’s top partner — boiled over last month when President Trump lashed out at Canada with a slew of new tariffs. …Canadian officials said last week that they were “targeting” products that would affect certain states as they responded with tariffs of their own. …Idaho exports more goods to its northern neighbor than it does to its next six largest markets — Taiwan, Mexico, Singapore, Japan, China and Malaysia. Agricultural and food products are the state’s top exported goods, and Canada is the biggest market for them. …Wood, paper, pulp and printing products are also on the list of items facing 50% tariffs from both sides. …Idaho imports wood and paper products from Canada more than twice the amount it exports. …Trump’s new round of tariffs is another way to target Canadian wood, which this time affects different types of plywood.
Donald Trump this month announced plans to rescind a landmark rule that has protected old-growth forests in the US for 25 years. If finalized, the rollback is expected to benefit the companies that Tom Schultz, chief of the US Forest Service, represented in his previous roles as a timber industry lobbyist and executive, according to research by consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen. …In a statement, Schultz described the move as “the best way to restore the balance, reduce wildfire risk, and secure the long-term health of our forests and neighboring communities”. But studies suggest it could put 400 threatened and endangered species at risk. …[Schultz previously] served as president of the Federal Forest Resource Coalition, representing companies that purchase timber from the federal government, and was vice-president … at Idaho Forest Group, a major lumber manufacturer. Schultz has long been critical of the roadless rule. 
Maine Gov. Janet Mills says tariffs on lumber products have been difficult for the state’s economy to absorb. [CBC video 1.42 min]
OTTAWA — Canada’s trade surplus narrowed sharply in July as exports of energy and metal products shrank while imports rose, just weeks before Washington’s new 50% tariffs begin to show up in statistics. The trade surplus was C$769 million (US$557 million), compared with a four-year high surplus of C$4.2 billion posted a month ago, Statistics Canada said. Exports dropped 2.3%, while imports increased 2.2%. Amid an escalating trade dispute with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, Canada has been seeking to reduce its dependence on its neighbour and largest trading partner. The U.S. accounted for 66.35% of Canada’s total exports in July, down from 69.39% in June and 72.64% a year ago. However, Canada’s import dependence on the U.S. has only narrowed to 59% in the last 12 months compared with 62% in 2024. However, Washington’s latest duties, imposed last month, will provide a tougher test for exporters in the coming months.
Boosting trade with a more diverse array of international partners would only plug part of the hole in Canada’s economy if the U.S. were to withdraw from the North American trade pact, says a new Deloitte Canada report. So Canada must look at measures beyond trade diversification to help make up the difference, such as removing interprovincial trade barriers and fostering new industries, wrote the authors of “
The ten largest softwood lumber import markets imported 16.6 million m3 in April-June 2026. Canada increased its share of U.S. softwood lumber imports by 6 pp, while Germany lost 3 pp of U.S. softwood lumber imports, according to Lesprom Analytics. The ten largest suppliers shipped 15.0 million m3 and held 90% of imports across the ten largest import markets. Canada gained 2 pp of Chinese softwood lumber imports. In the United Kingdom, Germany gained 4 pp and Finland lost 3 pp of U.K. softwood lumber imports. Russia shipped 474 thousand m3 less across the ten largest import markets, followed by Germany at 428 thousand m3 less and Austria at 370 thousand m3 less. In the first half of 2026, the ten largest import markets imported 34.7 million m3. Canada shipped 1.8 million m3 less and Russia shipped 1.2 million m3 less than in the first half of 2025.
As the dust settles in this tit-for-tat tariff row, what will be affected most on both sides of the border? …Construction materials such as steel, aluminium as well as lumber wood have had tariffs in place before the latest escalation, though Canada has now matched US rates on the metals at 50%. Carney has also imposed import taxes on several US wood products, such as plywood, and even screws used to fix timber together. That means building firms that import such materials will face higher costs and may choose to pass those on through higher prices – pushing up the cost of homes, for example. The Forest Products Association of Canada says tariffs would “raise costs on both sides of the border”, while on the US side, Bill Owens, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) urged Trump to make building materials exempt from his tariff agenda due to an “ongoing housing affordability crisis”.
Mortgage rates increased in August as Treasury yields remained elevated amid persistent inflation concerns. According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.67% in August, up 13 basis points (bps) over July. Since the conflict in the Middle East began, the 30-year mortgage rate has jumped by more than 60 bps. The average 15-year rate averaged 5.98% in July, up 7 bps from July and 55 bps from the end of February. Mortgage rates are now roughly on par with their levels a year ago, with the 30-year rate 6 bps higher and the 15-year rate 24 bps higher. The 10-year Treasury yield, a key benchmark for long-term borrowing, rose 10 bps to an average of 4.68% in August, Yields rose in the later part of the month amid a broader selloff in global government bonds. 
NEW YORK
Construction spending during July 2026 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,157.6 billion, 0.5 percent below the revised June estimate of $2,167.7 billion. The July figure is 3.8 percent below the July 2025 estimate of $2,242.6 billion. During the first seven months of this year, construction spending amounted to $1,244.6 billion, 3.5 percent below the $1,289.7 billion for the same period in 2025. …Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,614.2 billion, 0.5 percent below the revised June estimate of $1,622.9 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $859.0 billion in July, 1.3 percent below the revised June estimate of $870.6 billion. Nonresidential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $755.2 billion in July, 0.4 percent above the revised June estimate of $752.4 billion.
CAPITAL REGION, New York — Starting next week, Canadian retaliatory tariffs are taking effect. The tariffs are up to 50% on American products. The tariffs are projected to impact $20 billion worth of American goods; materials like lumber, steel, and dairy could be the hardest hit. We see data coming out of the Fed that shows that 90% of the costs of tariffs are passed along to, you know, U.S. businesses and consumers,” said Justin Wilcox, of Upstate United. “That’s having an impact on people’s pocketbooks at a time when they can least afford it.” …The National Association of Home Builders predicts a $10,000 to $14,000 increase per home. …According to an April 2026 report from the New York State Comptroller, Canada is the state’s most significant trading partner. In 2025, exports to Canada declined by $3.8 billion due to tariffs.
Certain forces affecting the built environment are beyond human control. …At the same time, increasingly stringent fire- and life-safety requirements have raised expectations for structural systems performing under multiple hazard conditions. For decades, steel and concrete have been the default materials for meeting these demands. However, in recent years, timber construction has emerged as a viable engineered system capable of meeting prescribed wind-load criteria and code-required fire-resistance standards, offering construction professionals a viable solution for mitigating risk and protecting both buildings and occupants. …Heavy timber and mass timber can withstand extreme wind and fire through a combination of material properties and engineered design. Timber’s ductility allows it to absorb and distribute wind forces, while high-wind connectors, hold-downs, and continuous load paths help resist uplift and lateral loads during hurricanes. …Code-recognized fire-resistance design, appropriate member sizing, tested assemblies, and protective materials allow timber systems to meet rigorous life-safety requirements. 
SEATTLE — Architect Susan Jones says …“For most of the 20th century, the architecture community has been separated from the origins of the materials we build with”. …Jones, along with a growing chorus of architects, engineers and forestry experts in Seattle and beyond, believes building with wood is better for our cities, and for our forests. …Mass timber buildings offer a more sustainable path forward. Steel and concrete release large amounts of greenhouse gases. …Erica Spiritos at the 
Federal Way, WA – Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau (PLIB) has launched Light Framing, its third online grader training course and the second of a planned three-course syllabus designed to provide comprehensive grader training based on the National Grading Rule for Dimension Lumber (NGR). Light Framing is based on the in-mill grader training PLIB has offered for decades. To replicate the live training experience, PLIB’s online courses offer a wide range of learning activities, making extensive use of images, video captured from in-mill scanners and instructional videos led by PLIB’s experienced grading supervisors. The ultra-realistic learning environment helps users recognize and accurately measure and assess every grade-defining characteristic. …Light Framing is the third grader training course offered at PLIB’s online Learning Management System. Foundations of Lumber Grading, … was released earlier this year and STUDS was launched last month. A fourth course, Structural Light Framing and Joists & Planks, will be launched in the coming weeks, completing the NGR curriculum.
With the US imposing new tariffs on select Canadian exports, North Carolina State University experts warn that the escalating trade war could raise the price and reduce the quality of toilet paper and other tissue products. …Canadian NBSK is a critical raw material in global tissue manufacturing, accounting for roughly 15% to 30% of the fiber blend in premium bath tissue products and 50% to 65% in premium paper kitchen towels. Brazilian eucalyptus fiber makes up the remaining share. Gonzalez said the 50% tariff on Canadian NBSK could raise manufacturing costs for premium toilet tissue by 11% to 20%, while costs for premium paper kitchen towels could increase by 31% to 38%. …“If tissue producers choose to switch to Southern Bleached Softwood Kraft, the softness of premium tissue products will be compromised,” Jameel said. On the other hand, Gonzalez said the tariffs could create an opportunity to use more local fibers for tissue manufacturing, though they are less soft than northern softwood.
Don’t let the rain fool you. Summer wildfires burning through Washington just broke another record. They’ve scorched more than 886,000 acres. Of those, 93,000 acres are on state trust land, marking the record for the largest amount of state-managed land burned by fires in a season since recordkeeping began in 2000. Two-thirds of that state land was forests, meaning a hit to revenue from timber sales. Money from logging on Washington’s public land helps pay for schools and other parts of state and local government. Officials are now racing to sell the charred timber before it molds or becomes even less valuable. The state’s Board of Natural Resources this week voted to allow the Department of Natural Resources to sell more burned forestland without board approval. Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove touted it as a strategy to “maximize value to the trust.”
In Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest, a group of incarcerated men gathered around an instructor warning them about the dangers of an over-pressurized firefighting hose. …Such were the risks that these men were willing to take to avoid sleeping in a prison cell. “It’s dangerous, but that’s why we train, and we train hard,” said Jason Russell, a 41-year-old from Salem incarcerated at the South Fork Forest Camp, a state prison. In a few weeks, many of them would be on fire lines alongside thousands of other firefighters battling what would become a record-breaking fire season in Oregon. …But while most firefighters make $25 an hour on the fire line, Oregon’s incarcerated firefighters earn $25 a day. …Inmates earn wildland firefighting certifications and gain experience, which can help with employment opportunities after their prison term ends. Oregon is one of seven states that use prison labor to fight wildfires.
Satellite measurements detected declining photosynthetic activity in Western U.S. forests two years before bark-beetle mortality appeared in aerial detection surveys, according to new University of Utah-led research. The first-of-its-kind study suggests that satellite-observed chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), a measure of plant photosynthesis, could provide an early warning of forest stress. As drought, wildfire and insect outbreaks occur with increasing frequency across the American West, the technology could also help scientists understand how these disturbances affect forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere. …“The ultimate goal is to identify areas of concern early enough for land managers to investigate, mobilize crews, allocate funding or otherwise prepare before mortality becomes widespread,” said lead author Lewis Kunik. …In forests that would later experience bark-beetle mortality, the researchers detected a significant SIF decline roughly two years before mortality was seen in aerial surveys conducted by the USDA Forest Service. 
OREGON — The 2021 floods in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley caused upwards of $14 billion in damages. Since then, communities have brought lawsuits against logging companies and the provincial government, blaming them for logging practices that made flooding worse. Over the past 50 years throughout B.C., clear-cut logging has been the primary method of timber extraction across watersheds of all sizes. Floods are happening more often and are becoming more expensive, and unlike the storms that help trigger them, clear cutting and the associated cumulative impacts are something we can manage. When watersheds are assessed for flood risk, the question often asked is a simple one: How much of the watershed has been logged? …
Two environmental conservation groups and a Southeast Alaska tribe have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service, challenging a logging project just east of Ketchikan. The Forest Service announced in July that it would move forward with the South Revilla Integrated Resource Project, a plan that includes harvesting over 5,000 acres of trees, mostly old growth, in the Tongass National Forest. …The complaint alleges that the project’s logging of old-growth trees will harm subsistence and recreation resources. It also highlights potential impacts to wildlife, the ecosystem and the economy. The suit lists several defendants, including the Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It also lists Forest Service Region 10 Acting Regional Forester Jeremiah Ingersoll and the Tongass National Forest Acting Forest Service Supervisor Janelle Crocker. The Forest Service could not immediately be reached for comment.
Oregon environmental groups are worried that dropping the so-called Roadless Rule, recently proposed by the Trump Administration, will increase fire risk and harm wildlife, drinking water and the recreation economy. The proof, they say, is in the documents produced by the U.S. Forest Service. Other groups say those concerns are overblown and that removing the rule will result in better forest management. …The draft environmental impact analysis — produced by the Forest Service — laid out several risks of removing the Roadless Rule. It acknowledges that road density is linked to human-caused wildfires. …Removing the rule could also trigger a loss of $9 million a year in visitor spending for nearby communities, the environmental analysis said, due to changes in landscape or loss of recreation opportunities caused by future construction. …The American Forest Resource Council, a timber advocacy group, said many of the concerns are overstated because rescinding the Roadless Rule won’t automatically result in new roads or logging.
The Wrangell Ranger District has recently wrapped up a large goshawk survey to prepare for potential timber sales. There is a push to increase logging on federally managed lands in Alaska following the 2025 presidential order to “unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential.” Ahead of any logging operation, there are a variety of wildlife surveys required before anything can be cut, including these goshawk surveys. …Cooper Freeman, the Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity said that, with renewed push for logging in the second Trump administration, there has been an increase of surveys, but that he did not think the survey methods were very effective at locating the hawks. “So it’s quite likely that many goshawks, if they’re there, would go undetected, and logging would harm the birds.”
ARIZONA — US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that misguided forest management policies played a role in the recent deadly flash floods at the Grand Canyon. Burgum said that a failure to properly manage protected forest areas contributed to the potency of last year’s Dragon Bravo Fire on the North Rim, which in turn increased the risk of flash flooding on the canyon’s floor. “When the forest has been burned through, you get a lot of runoff,” Burgum said. …The Dragon Bravo Fire burned nearly 150,000 acres last summer. …A Dept. of the Interior Burned Area Emergency Response Team conducted a postfire assessment in August 2025. The assessment found that the burn scar would increase the water runoff and debris flow in Bright Angel Creek, but “they are unlikely to significantly impact values-at-risk under normal storm conditions.” Burgum, however, said the Dragon Bravo Fire and Saturday’s Bright Angel Creek flooding are connected.
Giant sequoias only grow naturally in California today. But they once ranged as far east as Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada, before the climate turned drier and pushed them into their current, narrower range. Now, even that shrunken sequoia forest is under threat. Wildfires have killed off nearly one-fifth of all large sequoias across their native range over the last decade; a steep loss for a species that can live for thousands of years. A new study … finds those losses aren’t inevitable. Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno studied Mountain Home Demonstration State Forest, home to the world’s largest old-growth sequoia grove, after the 2020 Castle Fire. Some parts of the forest had been thinned or deliberately burned in the 15 years before the fire, while others hadn’t. The difference was stark. Sequoias in untreated forest died at more than double the rate of those in treated areas, said Bryant Nagelson, the study’s lead author.
TWISP, Wash. — A trio of conservation groups sued the Trump administration Monday, asking a federal judge to halt a sweeping logging project set to clear-cut mature and old-growth forests in north-central Washington state. “This lawsuit challenges the false narrative that we have to choose between healthy forests or safe communities,” Kristine Akland, senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. The Center for Biological Diversity, joined by Kettle Range Conservation Group and Methow Forest Forum, accuse the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service of violating multiple federal environmental laws through the approval of the Midnight Restoration Project.
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Forest Service to suspend a commercial logging project in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, finding the agency’s approval of the project under President Joe Biden violated the Endangered Species Act. Despite the agency’s own preliminary assessment showing an endangered bat species lived in the roughly 70-acre area targeted for the tree thinning project, the Forest Service did not wait for an official opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to approve the project. Environmental groups sued, but by the time the judge issued a temporary restraining order halting the project last summer, a logging company had already cut down trees in 40 of the 67 acres. Separately, the Trump administration this summer has moved to change two federal rules, including one weakening the Endangered Species Act, making it easier to approve projects like logging, mining, oil and gas drilling and other development in federal lands and forests.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M Forest Service today launched the Texas Prescribed Burn Manager Insurance Program to provide liability protection for qualified certified and insured prescribed burn managers. The program was established in response to House Bill 2563 in an effort to increase the use of prescribed fire as a wildfire mitigation tool by reducing liability barriers faced by prescribed burn managers. “Prescribed burning is one of the most effective tools we have to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires,” said Texas State Representative Trent Ashby. “Last session, I was proud to work with Texas A&M Forest Service to establish the Texas Prescribed Burn Manager Insurance Program, which will remove one of the primary barriers facing certified professionals who perform this important work. The launch of this program represents a proactive effort to reduce wildfire risk and protect our land, livestock, homes, and communities across Texas.”
New research suggests climate change could leave Canada’s forests increasingly vulnerable to pests and disease in the coming decades, while a federal climate report projects a sharp increase in the area burned by wildfires across the country. A federal government report warns average temperatures in Canada could rise by at least 3.5 C by the end of the century, even if the world achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, researchers at the University of British Columbia say climate change is expected to increase pest and disease damage across much of North America’s forests. The UBC study found more than 80 per cent of the forest area examined could experience higher levels of damage by the middle of the century. “Climate can influence the performance of both trees and the pests,” said Dr. Zihui Wang, a researcher in UBC’s Department of Botany.
Donald Trump’s trade war is accelerating Canada’s retreat from climate policy. When trade talks between Canada and the United States broke down on August 22 and Trump imposed tariffs of 50 per cent on almost $30 billion of Canadian goods, Canada had to respond. And it is responding. Prime Minister Mark Carney is standing up to Trump. I admire him for that. Canada cannot allow an American president to threaten our economy every time he doesn’t get what he wants. We need new markets, new trading partners and far less dependence on the United States. But something else is happening in the rush to protect ourselves. Climate policy is getting trounced. The oil-and-gas emissions cap has been abandoned. The Clean Electricity Regulations and other climate measures have been weakened. The federal government has moved toward expedited approvals for energy infrastructure.
For decades, mature forests have been treated as if their ability to store additional carbon gradually fades toward a biological ceiling. Once trees fill the available space and their canopies close, conventional satellite measurements often suggest that forest biomass changes very little. A new analysis, however, indicates that this apparent stability may be partly an illusion created by the way satellites observe forests. Across the conterminous United States, mature forests continue to accumulate carbon over large areas, but much of that growth is being missed by current satellite-derived biomass estimates. …The researchers compared several independent ways of detecting forest change, including satellite-derived biomass estimates, lidar observations, forest inventories and ecosystem models. …The contrast between the measurements was striking. Satellite estimates indicated that biomass in mature forests had undergone nearly neutral change over recent decades, implying little overall gain or loss. Forest inventories, by comparison, estimated that mature forests were accumulating about 102 teragrams of carbon each year. 
GEORGIA — A peer-reviewed University of Georgia study has found that rural forest landowners in the southeastern United States do not assess wood-based bioenergy or climate change solely through economic considerations. Their views are shaped by political beliefs, cultural values, personal experience, trust in markets and perceptions of local communities, the researchers reported in 2025. The study, published in the journal 
