WASHINGTON — A major benchmark is coming up for the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known in Canada as CUSMA. July 1 is the deadline for the three countries to either formally extend the agreement for 16 years or continue under annual reviews. …What happens if there is no extension on July 1? The trade pact will remain in place even if the United States doesn’t agree to extend CUSMA on July 1. Peisch said CUSMA will continue for another 10 years before “automatically terminating if the parties can’t come to agreement on extension.” In the near term, Peisch said, the countries will continue to negotiate possible changes to the agreement that could lead to an extension. …Can a country leave CUSMA? If the United States does not agree to the extension on July 1, the trade agreement stays in place unless one of the countries gives six months’ notice that it is pulling out of CUSMA.
- Related coverage by Ritika Dubey, the Canadian Press: RBC CEO downplays tensions, confident Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade will last
The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities today launched a Request for Proposals (RFP) to assess the feasibility of repurposing closed wood products manufacturing facilities, including pulp and paper mills, for bioenergy. The initiative will make available up to $500,000 in pre-development funding to support one or two facilities across the United States. Across the country, idled wood products facilities have left behind industrial infrastructure, utility connections and skilled workforce capacity at a time when forest-dependent regions are urgently seeking new economic anchors. Since 2015, more than 40 U.S. pulp and paper mills have closed, removing roughly 60 million green tons of annual wood demand from rural communities. The Endowment’s market initiative seeks to determine whether these sites can be reactivated as biopower generation or biofuel production facilities, creating new markets for low-value wood fiber and supplying renewable energy to a growing economy.
Federal law allows utilities operating on national forest land to remove hazardous trees only within 10 feet of a power line. In Western forests, where trees routinely reach 100 feet tall and a single ignition can drive hundreds of thousands of acres of destruction, 10 feet is not a safety standard — it is a disaster waiting to happen. The Fix Our Forests Act would extend that authority to 150 feet, alongside streamlined federal permitting for wildfire mitigation work and tighter judicial review timelines on fuel-reduction projects… The bill has cleared the House by a 279-141 vote and passed the Senate Agriculture Committee by a vote of 18 to 5 … Utility operators across the West are calling for it. But it does not have the support of Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). …The community-owned utilities I represent … don’t have a stake in what gets logged. But they do have a stake in whether the lines stay up when fire moves through…
NEW YORK — BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, timberland investment managers, announced the acquisition of approximately 90,000 acres of US timberland formerly managed by Jamestown, a global design-focused real estate investment and management firm. …The portfolio of high-quality timberland spans five U.S. states, including approximately 50,000 acres of pine timberland in Georgia and Alabama and approximately 40,000 acres of diversified hardwood timberland across Indiana, Pennsylvania, and New York. All properties are certified under the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). The acquisition increases BTG Pactual TIG’s core U.S. timberland strategy’s portfolio to more than 1.7 million acres. The firm manages 3.3 million acres globally. The transaction creates further opportunities for BTG Pactual TIG to scale positive conservation outcomes through its long-term collaboration with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Conservation Advisor to the firm’s core U.S. timberland strategy.
A top US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official told Court of International Trade (CIT) Judge Richard Eaton on 9 June that the agency is still creating a process for refunding tariffs that involve more complex entry types and that have been finally liquidated (i.e., are more than 90 days post-liquidation) in the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries portal. “We can’t do it all at once,” CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Susan Thomas testified. ….The US Trade Representative (USTR) is 
Global oil prices fell on Monday following news of a tentative deal between Iran and the U.S. to extend their ceasefire agreement and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but a veteran oil watcher doesn’t see crude prices returning to pre-war levels anytime soon. Eric Nuttall, partner at Ninepoint Partners, said that traders are trying to determine where the price of oil will settle out in the coming days and weeks, as many key details about the deal still need to be ironed out. …Nuttall noted that even if the strategically important Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened as a result of the Iran-U.S. deal, it will take time for oil markets to recover from the volatility of the last three and a half months. …In addition to the logistical backlog and supply chain disruption, the war in Iran has caused extensive damage to petroleum facilities across the Middle East, Nuttall explained.
This month, consumer sentiment ticked up about four index points, or 9%, with consumers experiencing some relief due to the early-month easing in gasoline prices. This measured improvement in sentiment was widespread, seen across age, education, and political party. Lower-income consumers exhibited a particularly strong sentiment increase, consistent with the fact that gasoline comprises a larger share of their budgets. Overall, assessments and expectations of personal finances and business conditions all rose this month. Even with June’s early gains, however, views of the economy are still relatively dour. Sentiment is currently 13% below January 2026 and 19% below a year ago, as consumers remain focused on kitchen table issues. They feel burdened by the recent escalation in inflation and worry that higher inflation could remain stubborn going forward, particularly in the short run. Interviews for this release were completed between May 19 and June 8.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Andrea Salinas (D-OR) introduced the Mass Timber Federal Buildings Act. This bipartisan legislation provides incentives for the use of mass timber building materials in federal contracting, giving timber and other forest products companies the ability to compete for construction, renovation, or acquisition of public buildings, and for military construction. The bill creates a two-tier contracting preference for mass timber and other innovative wood projects. The first-tier preference applies to mass timber that is made within the U.S. and responsibly sourced from state, federal, private, and Tribal forestlands. The optional second tier applies to mass timber products that are sourced from restoration practices, fire mitigation projects, and forest owners. Additionally, this bill contains a reporting requirement for a whole building lifecycle assessment. The results of this assessment will help provide additional evidence of the environmental benefits of the use of timber and forest products in buildings.
More than 4.2 million miles of public roads crisscross the lower 48 states… This vast network of roads leaves only about 5% as an inventoried roadless area or wilderness. Now, some of those last remaining lands free of roads are under threat from the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of the 2001 Roadless Rule. That includes southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, where eagles, bears, salmon and many other species thrive in old-growth coastal forest along the Inside Passage. …The Trump administration’s proposed rollback, expected to be formalized in 2026, would open these last wild places to development, fragmenting habitats that can never be restored. …The American public spoke loudly in 2001 when they supported the Roadless Rule. Two decades later, the public comments submitted on the recission notice overwhelming opposed rolling back the rules, a Center for Western Priorities review found, reaffirming that U.S. roadless forests remain as vital and valued as ever.
A photosynthesizing tree is not necessarily growing — a new study of oak trees, published in the journal 
The Trump administration is about to propose an overhaul of how it manages nearly 5 million acres in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. Logging could triple in the Umatilla, Malheur and Wallowa-Whitman national forests, which comprise the U.S. Forest Service’s Blue Mountains region. The agency’s proposal would eliminate regulations that protect large trees and sensitive habitats. It would also boost timber sale goals from 106 million board feet to 364 million over a decade. That’s raising hopes in a region where timber jobs have declined and lumber mills have closed. But others doubt the timber goals. And environmental groups have called the plan a raid on one of the wildest places in the United States. …Mark Webb, executive director of Blue Mountains Forest Partners — which coordinates between environmental and timber interests to find common ground — doubts whether the forest service can reach the ambitious logging goals it sets forth in its draft proposal.
Fire season has begun in Oregon. Hot and dry conditions have forest managers across the state on edge as the season officially started June 15, bringing with it restrictions meant to prevent wildfires. The main restriction is a prohibition on debris and backyard burning on state, county and private lands, although official rules are set by local fire districts. Debris burning is the most frequent human cause of wildfires that spread in populated areas. “With it being this hot and dry, one little bit of wind could spread an ember and start a fire. It’s the perfect time to cover your pile and wait until fall,” Oregon Department of Forestry spokeswoman Jessica Neujahr said.
…After decades of biologists going out into the woods and physically counting animals, the agency is now turning to sound recorders and AI because they’re cheaper and can gather a lot more information. “Autonomous recording units with rechargeable batteries, memory cards, and the software costs are coming in the $600-$700 range per device,” said Oregon Department of Forestry biologist Corey Grinnell. The agency is currently spending millions to send biologists into the forests to conduct callback surveys, where they mimic a bird call and count responses. …The agency now has 23 devices and plans to deploy more as it moves away from callback surveys. …There is some concern that using recorders might put biologists out of work. But lead ODF biologist Vanessa Petro isn’t so sure. She said that once the AI counts birds in a recording, the tally will need to be checked by an actual biologist.
…Decades of fire suppression have left many dry pine forests overcrowded with small trees and dense brush. …Foresters largely agree on the solution: restore forests through thinning and prescribed fire. The problem is that restoration work is expensive, especially when it involves removing small-diameter trees that have little commercial value. …Taxpayers shoulder most of the burden while hazardous fuels continue accumulating across millions of acres. …Oregon is well positioned to tackle this problem. New wood products such as mass timber can create markets for the very material that restoration projects remove. Instead of treating small trees as waste, we can turn them into building materials… The goal is to keep large fire-resistant trees while removing smaller fuels that make forests more vulnerable to extreme fires. …Oregon already has the tools and workforce to address this problem. The question is whether we are willing to act before the next historic fire season arrives.
Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced two federally funded grant programs totaling $1.23 million for urban and community forestry projects, with application deadlines in August 2026. The programs are available through DEEP’s 
GEORGIA — Amid drought conditions and larger fires, Georgia Forestry Commission Director Johnny Sabo told lawmakers the cost to put out the blazes in south Georgia cost more than half of his annual department budget. “We’re looking about $35 million between these two fires,” Sabo said about the cost of putting out the Pineland Road and Highway 82 fires in south Georgia. “To put that in perspective, my annual budget is $52 million.” Those figures don’t include the costs of helping communities recover from the damage and losses afterward. …Sabo said Georgia has experienced a more active fire season than in previous years, with the number of fires up 88%. It was made more dangerous by drier conditions. …The data from Sabo showed the yearly average acreage of fires was 5.6 acres in previous years. The size of the fires made it so smoke was even visible to residents in the metro Atlanta area.
As South Georgia continues recovering from a destructive spring wildfire season, Gov. Brian Kemp has signed an executive order intended to help landowners and the forestry industry reduce economic losses caused by fire-damaged timber. The order temporarily increases allowable truck weights in 17 wildfire-impacted counties, giving landowners and timber operators more flexibility to move salvageable timber before it loses market value. State officials said timber damaged by wildfire can only be harvested and sold within a limited timeframe, making transportation a critical part of recovery efforts. The temporary weight allowance is designed to help speed the removal and transport of timber from wildfire-affected properties. The order comes as two of Georgia’s most significant wildfire incidents this year have finally reached 100% containment…