Canadian officials will meet their Mexican and American counterparts on July 1 for the first tri-lateral meeting to review the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) agreement, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc confirmed. …LeBlanc’s office tells CTV News the meeting is scheduled to be virtual for now, but that things could evolve. Minister LeBlanc and Chief Trade Negotiator Janice Charette met with the United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France last week. …July 1 is the deadline for all three parties involved in the trade pact to decide whether to renew the deal for another 16 years, withdraw from the agreement altogether, or start an annual rolling review process that could last years.
- In related coverage in CBC News: Mexico, Canada have formed a common front on CUSMA talks, says Sheinbaum
A Toronto company is suing BC, saying it was stripped of its mining rights as part of a deal with the Gitxaała Nation. In a lawsuit filed in BC Supreme Court, MCC Canadian Gold Ventures says it was asked to rescue a small gold mine on Banks Island, south of Prince Rupert. But then the BC government stripped its mining rights to offset some of the impacts of another BC Supreme Court ruling involving the Gitxaała. The company says it invested millions in the property and now cannot move ahead on the project. …The province has not filed a response. …MCC said their case has “striking” parallels to a lawsuit launched by Carrier Lumber in the 1990s. In 2002, the province paid a large settlement to Carrier Lumber over a lawsuit it won over government decisions the company said made it impossible to harvest timber in the BC Interior.
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.
NEW ZEALAND — PF Olsen and Forest360 have merged to become New Zealand’s biggest independent forestry manager, trading as Stand Forestry. The companies announced their merger late last year, backed by new investment from Adamantem Capital’s Environmental Opportunities Fund and supported by PF Olsen’s Quayside Holdings. …The new brand will combine 75 years’ experience, a workforce of more than 200 skilled professionals and 480,000ha of forestry under management on both sides of the Tasman, the companies said. …The company recently launched a new carbon joint venture model in New Zealand to make it easier for farmers and landowners to participate in the Emissions Trading Scheme. …The merged group has more than 1000 clients, from major institutional investors to family-run businesses and private landowners. PF Olsen also has a large operation in Australia, managing 212,000ha.
OTTAWA — Canada’s annual inflation rate in May accelerated more than expected to 3.2%, a 29-month high, data showed on Monday, as the impact of higher crude oil prices due to the Iran conflict continued to filter through gasoline costs. Analysts polled by Reuters had estimated the annual inflation rate to touch 3% in May, up from 2.8% in April. The prices, however, are already showing a major reversal in June after an interim peace deal was signed between the United States and Iran last week, which, analysts have said, could help ease the headline number in June. Statistics Canada said excluding the impact of gasoline prices, the consumer price index still posted a higher increase of 2.2% in May from 2% in April. The monthly inflation rate rose to 1% in May, exceeding expectations of 0.8% rise. This is the highest monthly rise in 15 months.
Lumber climbed past $630 per thousand board feet, the highest level since October, amid higher effective US import costs on Canadian softwood and tighter expected supply. Prices rose despite a small reduction in preliminary antidumping and countervailing duties, because the combined tariff burden remains high at about 35.9% including the existing Section 232 levy, set to take effect in August. The market is also being driven by uncertainty ahead of final duty decisions, prompting buyers to accelerate purchases and lift near-term demand. At the same time, US domestic production is still constrained, while housing-related consumption remains structurally large, with softwood lumber and engineered wood products heavily used in new construction. Each new home requires roughly 15,000 board feet of lumber plus extensive engineered wood products, keeping baseline consumption elevated even in a softer housing cycle. [END]
China remains one of the world’s major importers of softwood logs and lumber, but its 
While supply concerns are still weighing on housing affordability, a combination of soaring prices and economic uncertainty is dragging on housing demand, according to the annual 
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.
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 
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.
Russia’s softwood lumber production is on course to fall 2 to 4 per cent in 2026, a second straight annual decline for an industry stripped of its European customers and now watching its Chinese lifeline weaken. That is according to consultancy Strategy Partners, whose forecast in Russian business daily Kommersant follows an official 2.5 per cent fall in 2025 to 28.5 million cubic metres and a sharper 4 per cent drop across the first four months of this year. The downturn is already visible in official data, with Russia’s Economic Development Ministry ranking wood-processing among the country’s weakest industrial performers after output fell 4.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2025 and 7.8 per cent in October. Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Mikhail Yurin told a Federation Council committee the sector had entered a downward trend, warning output could fall 20 to 30 per cent in 2026 under the worst-case scenario.
Steel keeps losing the green building conversation on a technicality. Most lifecycle comparisons published in industry media compare materials on cradle-to-gate embodied carbon and walk away. Steel comes out heavy. Wood comes out light. Concrete sits somewhere in the middle. The reader files steel away as the carbon-heavy choice and moves on. The problem with that framing is not the numbers themselves. It is what gets left out of the calculation. A building exists for decades. Materials behave differently across that span. End-of-life recycling rates vary by an order of magnitude. None of that shows up in the cradle-to-gate snapshot that gets quoted in most green building pieces. …What the analysis does argue is that the cradle-to-gate number cited in most green building media tells less than half the story. …The broader lesson is that sustainable construction decisions should be based on whole-building lifecycle assessment rather than a single embodied-carbon number. 
A bipartisan bill in the US House is calling for additional incentives to use of mass timber building materials in federal contracting. Introduced by House Ag Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Andrea Salinas (D-OR), the 
Mass timber is often promoted as an environmentally friendly building material, and in many cases that reputation is deserved. A grounded way to view that claim is through actual building systems, and 
Timber frame homes built in as little as five days could be a way to increase the pace of housebuilding in London, some of the capital’s largest construction companies have heard. Industry leaders travelled to Scotland to learn how the housing is produced, from sustainable forestry through to completed homes, as developers and ministers look for ways to increase the number of homes in the city. Scotland has adopted timber frame construction on a greater scale than England. About 92% of new homes north of the border are built using timber frame, compared with 13% in England. Andrew Orriss, of the Structural Timber Association, said: “Scotland builds faster, greener, and more efficiently than England. …“And the reason is timber frame. …Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has a target to build 88,000 new homes per year. …In Britain, structural timber are only permitted to a maximum height of 18 metres, or up to 6 storeys.
2025 was a landmark year for FSC Canada, one defined by transition, renewed clarity, and a deepening of the values that anchor our mission. I am proud to reflect on a year in which FSC Canada strengthened its role as a trusted leader in responsible forest stewardship. This year marked an important moment in our organization’s history with the retirement of François Dufresne, who served as President and CEO for more than a decade. François guided FSC Canada through periods of significant change in the forest sector, always with integrity, steadiness, and a commitment to collaboration. …We also welcomed Monika Patel as FSC Canada’s new President and CEO. Monika brings a clear strategic vision, a deep understanding of the FSC system, and a values driven approach that aligns strongly with our mission. Her leadership has already brought renewed focus to our priorities and strengthened our engagement with partners across the country. 
British Columbians are subsidizing the province’s forest companies to the tune of tens of millions of dollars each year under a government program that defrays the cost of shipping logs from remote forests to distant mills. In 2023, logging companies received nearly $33 million in public funds to underwrite the costs of hauling “low-value” logs to wood pulp and pellet mills. …The subsidies are posted online by the Forest Enhancement Society of BC, or FESBC, an organization created and funded by the provincial government and that reports to Forests Minister Ravi Parmar. The society’s mandate includes “preventing and mitigating the impact of wildfires” and “improving habitat for wildlife.” But many FESBC funds simply underwrite the increasing costs of hauling logs. Those expenses have been marching upward as logging activities push farther into the hinterland. That has some questioning whether the funding is accelerating the logging of forests, rather than enhancing them.
Way back in 1995 Bob Brown, the Republican president of the Montana Senate, called me into his office. He had co-sponsored a bill with a pro-logging Missoula Democrat to establish a “sustained yield” level of logging on Montana’s state trust lands – and he was worried it wasn’t working out the way he hoped. Bob was right to be worried then and Montanans are right to be worried now because Trump’s Forest Service Chief and former timber industry lobbyist Tom Schultz, has just unleashed the “sustained yield” scam on Montana’s National Forests. …My advice to Bob was to let the bill die because he didn’t have the votes to remove the amendments the timber industry lobbyists stuck on the bill. But he didn’t take that advice. …Two years later, Tom Schultz went to work for Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, earning the sobriquet “Chainsaw Tom” for his pro-logging zeal.
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 
During the 1930s, Italy’s government launched a sweeping reforestation effort in the Prealps region near Lake Como, planting fast-growing Norway spruce on land that had been pasture and meadow for centuries. It was a conscious decision, made mainly to answer the demand for timber, but it did not involve much ecological thinking. Now, 90 years later, a new study has gone back to measure what that decision actually did to the landscape, and the results are not flattering. According to the study, ‘
JAKARTA — Pulp and paper giant APRIL’s recent decision to lower its deforestation commitments and source wood from two companies associated with extensive recent forest loss has created a new challenge for its relationship with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), with environmental groups urging the world’s leading forestry certifier to terminate the already suspended reassociation process. In late May, APRIL announced it was reviewing its decade-old Sustainable Forest Management Policy 2.0 and lowering its deforestation cutoff date from 2015 to Dec. 31, 2020. The move allows the pulp and paper producer to source wood from PT Industrial Forest Plantation and PT Mayawana Persada, two companies that have experienced some of the country’s largest recent forest losses. APRIL said the decision was necessary to address fibre shortages after the Indonesian government revoked the operating permits of four of its long-term suppliers earlier this year, affecting around 15% of its wood supply in Riau Province.
AUSTRALIA — Tasmania’s public native forestry company has corrected the record in a parliamentary committee after earlier stating that all logs from public native forests were processed in Tasmania. Tasmanian sawmill operator James Neville-Smith confirmed that some logs had been sent to Victoria, where processors had received compensation from the Victorian government as part of its industry shutdown. Mr Neville-Smith said the decision was due to retooling a sawmill to be plantation-only, meaning that hardwood logs needed to be processed elsewhere. Logs displaying stickers from Tasmanian state forests were also spotted at a mill in Powelltown, in the Yarra Valley, that was also a recipient of millions in Victorian compensation payments. Victoria phased out native forest logging in 2024. Since then, environmental groups have raised concerns about large quantities of logs being transported to Victoria on the Spirit of Tasmania, but were told that all were from private forests.
UK — The City watchdog has closed an investigation into the owner of the Drax power plant after an almost 10-month review into whether the company’s sustainability claims mislead shareholders. The Financial Conduct Authority said it had “reviewed thousands of pages” of “complex material” relating to the company’s sourcing of wood pellets for the Drax power plant in Selby, North Yorkshire, but “did not find evidence that justified any further action”. The regulator began the investigation last year into whether Drax’s annual reports and accounts between 2021 and 2023 misled shareholders or left out important information investors needed to know about the origins of its biomass fuel. …Ofgem found at the time that there was no evidence to suggest the breach was deliberate, and said instead that it was “technical in nature”. It also found no evidence that the biomass sourced was unsustainable or that Drax had wrongly laid claim to renewable energy subsidies.
OTTAWA — Three young women and two environmental groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government seeking to force it to develop an action plan to meet its key climate goals. The lawsuit comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government shifts Canada’s climate and energy priorities, rolling back key environmental policies while advancing major energy and infrastructure projects to reduce dependence on the United States. Announcing the lawsuit, plaintiff Shirley Barnea, a university student from Quebec, said authorities had an obligation to build a sustainable future for younger generations. …The legal action aims to compel the government “to chart a credible, up-to-date course of action” and “to protect Canadians from the worsening impacts of climate change,” according to a statement from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), which is also a party to the lawsuit.
NEW BRUNSWICK — On the morning of May 26, a provincial air quality monitoring station on the west side of Saint John began registering unusual readings. …There was no special public notification about the west side spike, even though the environment department watched it develop and was concerned enough to launch an immediate investigation to determine the cause. …The department, in emails, said it believes operations and maintenance work at the Irving Pulp & Paper mill could have been a contributing factor. …“The cause appears to be a combination of unusual weather, which trapped pollutants at ground level rather than dispersing them upward, combined with higher than ordinary emissions during a cleaning/maintenance cycle at the mill.” J.D. Irving said there is “no concrete way to confirm” it caused the poor air quality readings but said adjustments in mill operations were made at the time to be on the safe side.
