Scott Bessent
The US stock market, fresh off its third-best day in modern history, is sinking back into reality: Although President Donald Trump paused most of his “reciprocal” tariffs, his other massive import taxes have already inflicted significant damage, and the economy won’t easily recover from the fallout. The Dow, after rising nearly 3,000 points Wednesday, was set to open lower by more than 500 points.Traders were elated that Trump temporarily rescinded his so-called reciprocal tariffs, which aren’t really reciprocal, for 90 days. …Futures on Thursday also responded somewhat positively to the European Union’s announcement that it would temporarily pause its retaliatory tariffs on the United States in hopes of a negotiated trade agreement after Trump’s U-turn. …But even after Trump’s about-face, the reality remains stark: Economists said the economic damage is done, and many predict a US and global recession.
- CBC News: US official creates confusion by saying Canadian goods would face 10% tariff, later clarifies baseline tariff won’t apply
- BBC News: US pauses higher tariffs for most countries but hits China harder
- Guardian: China says Trump’s trade war ‘will end in failure’
- Bloomberg: China reaches out to others as Trump layers on tariffs
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump partially reversed course Wednesday on his global trade war following days of market turmoil — but he’s not offering any changes to the tariffs hitting Canada. Trump immediately paused for 90 days the levies on nations slapped with the highest duties under his “reciprocal” tariff regime. A White House official later clarified that a 10 per cent baseline tariff will remain in place for all countries. The president has held fast to his plan to rapidly realign global trade through a benchmark “reciprocal” tariff — but his tariffs have spread chaos throughout global markets. …On social media, Trump said he made the decision after more than 75 countries called his administration “to negotiate a solution.” Later at the White House, the president said he lowered the levies because “people were jumping a little bit out of line.” “They were getting yippy, you know,” Trump said. “They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”
LAS VEGAS — Canadian Steelworkers joined thousands of delegates from across the US and the Caribbean at the 2025 United Steelworkers union (USW) International Convention where a resolution calling for fair trade and an end to Trump’s reckless tariffs on Canadian goods was unanimously adopted. …USW members made it clear: Canada is not the problem. …Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada, “These tariffs hurt workers and communities on both sides of the border. …Jeff Bromley, Chair of the USW Wood Council, “We’re not the problem – we’re here to help,” said Bromley. “We’re here to help rebuild after the fires in California, after hurricanes in the Carolinas. We’ve been your brothers and sisters, your neighbours – and we want to continue to be that. We want to grow that relationship.” The resolution calls for a permanent exemption from Section 232 tariffs… and a coordinated strategy to protect and grow union jobs across the North America.
Lumber futures fell toward $580 per thousand board feet, sliding further from a two-and-a-half-year high of $685 on March 24th, reflecting a steep decline in construction demand amid disruptive trade policies. The US decision to raise duties on Canadian softwood lumber to roughly 34% has sparked significant uncertainty and raised homebuilding costs, prompting builders to delay projects. Concurrently, Canadian production has been restricted by widespread sawmill closures, diminished timber stocks due to the mountain pine beetle, and tightening forestry policies in key regions like British Columbia, resulting in a surplus that further drives down prices. While there is a gradual shift toward lower-cost Southern Yellow Pine from the US South, logistical and technical hurdles limit its ability to fully offset the reduced Canadian supply. Market participants are adjusting to lower demand expectations amid ongoing trade tensions and a slowing construction sector.
The European pulp and paper industry is struggling to assess the possible impact of tariffs. …Europe has a marginally negative trade balance with the US for pulp and paper. In 2024, it imported 2.6 million tonnes of P&P from the US. In the same year, it exported 2.3 million tonnes of P&P to the country. The largest trade deficits appear to be around pulp (-975,000 tonnes) and containerboard (-310,000 tonnes, mostly kraftliner). On the other hand, Europe has a surplus in graphic paper and cartonboard sales. …“The only certainty we have is that there will be negative consequences for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Trade wars are always detrimental for consumers, but we are a ‘made in Europe’ industry, with local capacities to meet the European demand,” he added. …Most market participants believe the stuttering trade war initiated by Trump will further hurt the already stagnating European economy.
While the current tariff war is justifiably on the minds of many Americans, another type of import tax may be coming later this summer that could have a big impact on new home construction. …The US is preparing to raise duties on Canadian softwood lumber from 14.5% to 34.45%. …A final review of the levies will be published in August or September, with the rate increase taking effect then, according to the National Association of Home Builders. The NAHB has previously estimated that Trump’s tariffs could increase the cost of building a new home by $9,200. ….The proposal to more than double the tax would be a blow to Canadians, but it would also mean “driving up housing costs for Americans,” BC Premier David Eby said. …Some have praised the proposal, suggesting that it will give domestic lumber companies an opportunity to increase production, even if that means higher costs.
Marie Fallon, the general manager of AR Chambers Supply in Lawrenceville, is nervous about the future of her business. The threat of tariffs has prices fluctuating and she’s worried her supply sources are at risk. …As President Donald Trump’s international trade war rages on, Pennsylvania homebuilding and construction businesses are weathering the dizzying pace of cost increases and then abrupt pauses in tariffs as they try to ensure that long-term projects are completed. Pennsylvania is highly dependent on foreign countries for construction materials, with 63% of the state’s wood imports, 66% of its iron and steel, and 68% of its aluminum coming from Canada and Brazil. …Despite the whiplash changes, some in the industry see the new tariffs as good for the long-term outlook. Hodgkiss Lumber owner Jon Hodgkiss sees Trump’s tariffs as simply a temporary negotiating tactic that will give the US better trade deals.
President Donald Trump wants to create a new federal agency that will be responsible for “all wildland fire fighting nationwide” by 2026, according to a draft executive order currently under review at the White House. The draft order, which was obtained by POLITICO and confirmed by three people familiar with the situation, would launch a national wildland firefighting task force in the next 90 days, combining resources from the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Homeland Security. The White House’s eventual goal, according to the document, is to have Congress create a National Wildland Fire Agency in the next two years. The order aims to “eliminate red tape, reform our agencies and reforge our efforts around the priority to address fighting fire fast,” the document reads. It comes four months after wildfires devastated Los Angeles, a disaster that has created a sense of bipartisan urgency to improve forest management and cut down on wildfire risk. [A Politico subscription is required for full access]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Jim Risch (R-ID), co-chairs of the 
A federal order to increase US timber production by 25% will touch all 18 of the Golden’s State’s national forests, officials said. The USDA said it does not yet have information about how many acres in each forest will be affected. California’s national forests are on the chopping block — literally — in the wake of the Trump administration’s April 5 order to immediately expand timber production. Last week, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins issued an emergency declaration that ordered the US Forest Service to open up some 112.5 million acres of national forestland to logging. The announcement included a grainy map of affected forests, which did not specify forest names or the amount of impacted acreage in each. However, USDA officials have confirmed that the order will touch all 18 of the Golden State’s national forests, which collectively span more than 20 million acres. [to access the full story a Los Angeles Times subscription is required]
BONNERS FERRY, ID – A federal district court has stopped a logging project in northern Idaho that would have carved more roads into the area and harmed the Selkirk grizzly population habitat. Only about 50 grizzlies live in the region. Mike Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which has been in litigation with the U.S. Forest Service over this issue for nearly six years, said the project would have resulted in more roads than is allowed under the agency’s rules. “The Forest Plan, which is their management plan that governs the forest, limits road density in Selkirk grizzly bear habitat,” he said, “because most grizzly bears are killed within a third of a mile of a road, and it’s usually a logging road.” The court decision found the government had been violating road construction limits for years. Court documents show the goal of the Hanna Flats Good Neighbor Authority Project was to reduce wildfire risk.
CALIFORNIA — State experts said they’re dubious about President Donald Trump’s claims that his directive opening up well over half of the country’s forests to logging will reduce wildfire risk and “save American lives.” Some, such as University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources climate-change scientist Daniel Swain, flatly called the administration’s rhetoric disingenuous and misleading. “It’s BS, frankly,” Swain told The Examiner. “Are we going to try and justify logging forests commercially under the guise of wildfire-risk reduction? …The Trump administration says the benefits of these actions are largely twofold: It will reinvigorate the economy by boosting a stagnant timber industry and significantly mitigate wildfires tearing through the West. …UC Berkeley wildfire researcher Scott Stephens said that logging can be a viable way to mitigate fire risk, as long as it’s done sustainably and arborists are strategic about what trees they’re chopping down.
Amid a growing number of wildfires, mostly across Western states, a U.S. Senate bill is aiming to protect areas where communities are most vulnerable to fires, using “good neighbor” agreements, cross-boundary collaboration and the expansion of tools to prevent fire hazards. The bill, titled the 
A Salmon, Idaho man has pleaded guilty to a seven-count indictment for his role in schemes to rig bids, allocate territories, and commit wire fraud over an eight-year period while providing fuel truck services to the U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire fighters. Kris Bird, 62, pleaded guilty at the end of March to all counts two weeks before trial, with no assurances from the government as to what sentence will be recommended when he goes before a judge with another involved executive in June 2025. The men were indicted after a federal wiretap investigation in December 2023… “The defendant illegally profited from American taxpayer money,” said Special Agent in Charge Mehtab Syed of the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office. “The FBI and our partners are committed to rooting out fraud and protecting fair competition in the bidding for government contracts.”
Governor Stitt said he’s standing by his firings of staff from the Forestry Service after the March deadly fires. Several fire crews have now called for an independent investigation into what happened and what the state could do better. “It’s tough to believe anything – he’s been fact-checked several times by fire departments and the media and his facts have been incorrect. So right now you just can’t believe anything that comes out of the governor’s office,” said Fire Chief Jason Dobson of the Olive Volunteer Fire Dept. His department was one of the first to share the Change.org petition which called for Governor Stitt’s impeachment… “If the governor can’t fire the head of the forestry, who can?,” said Gov. Stitt.
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A group of South Carolina lawmakers will continue considering a bill that would increase penalties for illegal burning in the state. The South Carolina Criminal Law Subcommittee discussed H.4265 during a meeting on Wednesday. The bill, filed by Rep. Tim McGinnis of Horry County, came after a wildfire allegedly started by a Carolina Forest woman burned more than 2,000 acres last month. McGinnis’s bill would increase fines and even jail time for burning during a ban issued by the South Carolina Forestry Commission. He spoke during Wednesday’s meeting, saying that an amendment to the bill was also made after meeting with the SCFC on Tuesday. …The bill would also repeal a section of South Carolina law that allowed exemptions for fire regulation, such as fire pits and chimineas.
DULUTH — The U.S. Forest Service will not log in designated wilderness areas like the Boundary Waters, federal officials clarified Tuesday evening, days after issuing an emergency order intended to boost logging on national forest land throughout the country. … Wide swaths of several wilderness areas, like the Boundary Waters, were included in that total, and 
There are many contradictory myths about Northwoods lumberjacks and the work they did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were depicted as hard-living, violent men, but also as upstanding, conservation-minded gentlemen. Recently, Willa Hammitt Brown, the author of the book “