CORVALLIS, Ore. – If mistletoe’s status as a nutrient-stealing freeloader has been cooling your holiday ardor, new research led by an Oregon State University scientist may help relight the fire. A survey of urban forests in seven western Oregon cities found no observable connection between mistletoe infestation and negative health outcomes for the trees it was parasitizing. So worry not: Your yuletide kissing tradition probably does not involve a tree killer. And as you’re setting concern aside, you might want to head outside. “This is the best time of year to look for mistletoe because there are no leaves on the trees,” said College of Forestry professor emeritus Dave Shaw, an OSU Extension Service forest health specialist. “Also, chances are it will be found in an oak tree – most other trees don’t get infested. So if you are looking for a kiss, keep an eye out for oaks.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney says U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t given him any indication that he’s willing to walk away from the North American free trade deal that was struck during his first term at the White House. Carney met privately with Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum in Washington during the FIFA World Cup draw earlier this month. Much of that conversation laid out the broad strokes for coming discussions around the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which is up for review in 2026. …U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer recently floated the possibility of the U.S. aiming to get separate deals with Canada and Mexico — or possibly backing out entirely. …In a report tabled in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, Greer wrote that he “will keep the president’s options open, negotiating firmly to resolve the issues identified, but only recommending renewal if resolution can be achieved.”
The trade war launched by Donald Trump continues to intensify, striking Canadian workers. In addition to the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed earlier this year and the duties on non-CUSMA-compliant automobiles and parts, Washington added a 50% tariff on copper in July. More recently, a new 10% duty on softwood lumber was introduced, on top of the existing countervailing and anti-dumping duties. …Thanks to the mobilization and constant pressure of the United Steelworkers, several long-standing union demands have finally been adopted in Ottawa. …The federal government announced that it will now require the use of Canadian-made products in publicly funded projects and has announced new investments to strengthen Canada’s industrial capacity and the resilience of our supply chains. …Canada must go further and adopt a strong industrial strategy to reduce our dependence on the U.S. market, protect jobs, and ensure that we never again find ourselves in such a vulnerable position. 
Hopes for relief on the tariffs front are likely on hold until the new year now that the US Supreme Court has adjourned for the holiday season before ruling on the matter of President Trump’s illogical and, likely, illegal trade tariffs. Their decision could come in January, which is a long wait for affected economies around the world. …It took just 35 days for lower courts to decide Trump’s use of the act for tariffs was invalid, which he appealed. …Rampant speculation is outlined by Daniel Schramm In the Missouri Independent: “
Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says the door is open for American officials to restart trade talks with Canada. …”Canada believed it was making progress with the Americans — and talks would eventually move to automobiles and softwood lumber — but Trump “decided to suspend those negotiations. That’s regrettable.” …Canadian, American and Mexican officials are gearing up to review CUSMA, which offers Canada crucial protection from many of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs. …On Thursday, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. Kristen Hillman downplayed signals from the Trump administration about breaking down the trilateral pact and said she hasn’t “heard any indication from the US side that they want to change that foundation.” …All three countries must indicate by July 1 of next year whether they want to extend the agreement, renegotiate its terms or let it expire. LeBlanc said in private the conversations are “much more reassuring” about CUSMA.
The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) held a hearing regarding the six-year review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Though some stakeholders advocated for maintaining the current framework, many called for targeted updates. Despite varied perspectives, there was broad consensus that USMCA should be preserved. Transshipment and circumvention of Section 232 tariffs emerged as recurring concerns, particularly from the automotive, steel and aluminum, and wood and lumber sectors. …Stakeholders from the wood products, millwork and cabinetry industries raised serious concerns about how USMCA’s current rules of origin are being exploited to circumvent U.S. trade remedies and undermine domestic manufacturers. …The organization’s representative urged the adoption of Labor Value Content (LVC) rules for wood products modeled after those used in the automotive sector to ensure that qualifying goods reflect substantial North American production and fair labor practices.
The 
Nonfarm payrolls grew slightly more than expected in November but slumped in October while unemployment hit its highest in four years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday in numbers delayed by the government shutdown. Job growth totaled a seasonally adjusted 64,000 for the month, better than the Dow Jones estimate of 45,000 and up from a sharp decline in October. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, more than expected and its highest level since September 2021. A more encompassing measure that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons swelled to 8.7%, its peak going back to August 2021. In addition to the November report, the BLS released an abbreviated October count that showed payrolls down 105,000. While there was no official estimate, Wall Street economists were largely expecting a decline following a surprise increase of 108,000 in September.
Mark Latino is the CEO of Lee Display, a Fairfield, California-based company… that still makes artificial Christmas trees, producing around 10,000 each year. Tariffs shone a twinkling light this year on fake Christmas trees — and the extent to which America depends on other countries for its plastic fir trees. Prices for fake trees rose 10% to 15% this year due to the new import taxes, according to the American Christmas Tree Association, a trade group. Tree sellers cut their orders and paid higher tariffs for the stock they brought in. Despite those issues, tree companies say they aren’t likely to shift large-scale production back to the US after decades in Asia. Fake trees are labor-intensive and require holiday lights and other components the US doesn’t make. …About 80% of the US residents who put up a Christmas tree this year planned to use a fake one. …That percentage has been unchanged for at least 15 years.
The EU Deforestation Rule has already caused supply chain hurdles for American farmers, ranchers and foresters, and the rule has not even begun being enforced. EU farmers themselves have raised concerns over their compliance requirements and received additional flexibilities, and member governments are still navigating how to implement the complex auditing system. With these logistical challenges clear even to EU officials, the European Commission has voted to once again delay the rule’s implementation until 2026 and 2027 for large and small businesses, respectively. However, as long as the rule stands as currently drafted, agricultural supply chains will be strained from the looming enforcement deadline. Overall, the EU fails to recognize the long-standing position of American farmers and ranchers as global leaders in agricultural production with environmental stewardship. A rule that was originally targeted to penalize bad actors in the global marketplace has now hindered some of the most productive producers in the world.
One of the most profound shifts in how the United States manages wildland fire is underway. Federal wildland fire forces are spread across several agencies, closely collaborating but each tackling prevention and protection somewhat differently. Now, the Trump administration is creating an entirely new “U.S. Wildland Fire Service” to combine as much of that under one headquarters roof as it can. A firefighter with decades of federal and local experience says he has been tapped to head that agency, news that heartened much of the wildfire community when it broke just over a week ago. …But the muddled rollout of these plans—along with widespread layoffs at agencies that fight wildfires and a crackdown on efforts to combat the climate change that’s fueling the flames—have sowed concerns that this is not the right administration to carry out such a significant transformation.
President Trump swept into office with a promise to ramp up the timber business on national forests. So far, they’re just treading water. The Forest Service reported relatively flat timber harvests and sales for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. …According to the agency’s cut-and-sold reports, national forests cut 2.52 billion board feet of timber for the fiscal year, down slightly from the 2.66 billion board feet cut during the last full fiscal year of the Biden administration. Sales volume totalled 2.95 billion board feet, a slight increase from the prior year but a drop from 3.08 billion board feet the year before that. The suppressed returns reflect some of the challenges in meeting Trumps’s directive to use national forests to reduce the nation’s reliance on wood imports. Those include wildfires, market conditions… and the Forest Service’s ability to set up and run timber sales after the administration whittled the workforce. [to access the full story, an E&E News subscription is required]
WASHINGTON, D.C. — 
Gov. Jared Polis signed an 
Climate change is contributing to drier conditions in the Pacific Northwest, causing wildfires to become more intense and destructive. A growing reforestation industry has emerged in their wake. The company Silvaseed is a key player in the region. Based southeast of Olympia in Roy, Washington, Silvaseed collects, cleans, catalogues and preserves seeds. It also raises millions of seedlings every year in its greenhouses and fields. Customers include private timber companies, public land managers and tribal nations. …Inside a warehouse built in the 1940s, Silvaseed general manager Kea Woodruff starts a tour of the facilities by flipping a switch to fire up a huge, old kiln. …Woodruff said most species’ cones need the kiln to reach about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. …At every step of the way, as the seed gets refined and purified, the bags are meticulously labeled and tracked.
Two meetings next week between U.S. Forest Service leadership and timber industry representatives in Southeast Alaska are raising concerns among tribal and other officials about the possibility a years-long revision of the management plan for the Tongass National Forest will be halted by the Trump administration. At least one additional meeting is now planned next week because of those concerns, scheduled next Friday in Juneau between Forest Service leaders and members of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, according to officials. A request to halt work on the revised plan is being made by the Alaska Forest Association, which states less than 10% of old-growth trees allotted to the timber industry in a 2016 revision of the plan have actually been authorized for harvest. The allocation of 430 million board feet (mmbf) was intended to support a 15-year industry transition to harvesting new-growth trees, according to AFA.
A federal judge on Thursday vacated the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of a massive logging project [to harvest] about 16,500 acres of pine trees in the Custer Gallatin National Forest in southern Montana, just north of Yellowstone National Park. Senior U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, Montana, agreed with a collective of environmental advocates that the U.S. Forest Service failed to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act by relying on a condition-based management approach, which doesn’t identify the location of the 56.8 miles of temporary roads for the project and, as such, doesn’t adequately consider their impact on “secure habitat” for grizzly bears. Condition-based management defers specific decisions on how to proceed until the Forest Service has conducted field reviews. Here, it means the Forest Service has preliminarily identified areas as suitable for logging without identifying the precise location and size of the area to be cleared…