Mark Carney
Prime Minister Carney told his negotiators to walk away from the table after the Trump administration introduced late unacceptable demands on culture, autos and sovereignty that, when taken in concert with their overall approach to talks, revealed the US was not interested in a “true economic partnership” with Canada. In a departure from his usual diplomatic language, Carney suggested the US sometimes signs trade deals in “pencil,” and while Canada’s government is united and working together, the same is not true of the Trump administration. “We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked,” Carney said. The prime minister revealed that the US had issues with Canada’s subsidies for French culture; the prevalence of French-language media online and even the requirement to have bilingual labels on products sold in Canada. …”The U.S. introduced, in the last hours, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals,” Carney said.
Related coverage in:
- The Walrus: Mark Carney: Why I Rejected Trump’s Trade Deal
Canada will “of course” come to the negotiating table again, but not to be treated like a “subsidiary” of the US, Prime Minister Carney said after US President Trump imposed 50% tariffs and threatened more. “An attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a subsidiary of the US… that’s not something we’re going to accept,” Carney said. …“There is a mutually beneficial deal possible here, but it has to be one that respects Canada’s sovereignty, that respects our independence, that uses our complementary strengths to build something better,” Carney added. …Trump on Monday said, “Someone should get these clowns to “fall in line” or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” …Canada’s forestry sector groups welcomed the federal government’s decision to extend support for businesses affected by Trump’s new tariffs. …The new tariffs could take off between 0.3 to 0.5 per cent off Canada’s GDP, said Deloitte’s Dawn Desjardins. 
The Domtar paper mill on the Port Alberni waterfront is the area’s biggest employer, with 350 people making specialized food packaging and food-grade papers. But in the light of a new round of 50% tariffs levied by US President Trump, Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions is worried about the future of those jobs. …In 2020, Domtar spent $13 million to switch production primarily to the food packaging grade paper, an important diversification at the time, but it’s unclear how much of it goes to the U.S. and would be subject to the new tariffs. …Industry analyst David Elstone says the entire BC forestry sector will be hit hard and it comes right after Domtar closed other mills, including at Crofton and Howe Sound. …”A billion dollars worth of BC wood products will now be subject to the new tariffs, including plywood, veneer, paper and packaging products, furniture, MDF and doors. And that’s what these tariffs go after: these value-added products,” said Elstone. 
TORONTO – United Steelworkers union (USW) National Director Marty Warren issued the following statement on the suspension of Canada-U.S. trade negotiations and the imposition of new 50% U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods: “Canada was right to hold the line rather than accept a deal that did not adequately protect Canadian workers, jobs and communities. We have said throughout these negotiations that no deal is better than a bad deal. The terms being discussed – including significant tariffs and restrictive quotas on Canadian steel and barriers across other key sectors – raised serious concerns for Canadian workers and industries. The new needless 50% tariffs coming into force today will have real consequences for workers, businesses and communities on both sides of the border. We support the government’s commitment to respond dollar for dollar, but retaliation alone is not enough. Ottawa must move quickly to support affected workers and industries. 
US companies that export to Canada – steel producers, dairy operations, appliance manufacturers, agricultural equipment makers, electronics firms, and paper producers – are now looking at a confirmed 50% tariff landing on their Canadian sales starting September 8. For any US exporter that has extended credit terms to Canadian buyers, the tariff changes the buyer’s economics immediately. A Canadian importer that contracted to purchase US steel at pre-tariff prices now faces a 50% landed cost increase it did not price in. The credit risk on those receivables has moved. Trade credit insurance for US exporters selling into Canada is the most direct policy line affected. …The second direction is less immediately visible but affects a wider range of American businesses. US manufacturers that source Canadian lumber, metals, cement, dairy ingredients or paper as production inputs are now paying 50% more for those inputs effective immediately, with no exemption for USMCA-compliant goods under the Section 338 mechanism used to impose these tariffs.
A Richmond plywood manufacturer is concerned about what Wednesday is going to bring for his business. Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as officials race against the clock to secure a new trade deal before new 50% tariffs take effect Wednesday. …“A 50 per cent tariff is not a margin we can absorb, nor is it something US customers will be willing to pay,” Bhavjit Thandi, CFO of Richmond Plywood, said. …So far, the BC premier is reluctant to make any concessions such as returning US alcohol to BC shelves without tariff relief for key industries such as forestry. But the Americans have not been interested in discussing softwood lumber. “The softwood lumber sector is bigger than auto parts and steel combined in terms of the Canadian economy and it needs to be front and centre at the table,” Eby said on Friday.
Canada-U.S. trade talks are down to the wire this week as Ottawa tries to avert punitive new tariffs scheduled to be imposed by the Trump administration on Wednesday. …Five sources briefed on the discussions said Section 232 tariffs on autos and lumber remained the biggest points of contention. …On forestry, the US does not want to offer any reduction of Section 232 tariffs on the sector. Instead, the US has argued that Canada should wait for the results of a separate review by the US Department of Commerce that is expected to reduce a different set of tariffs on softwood lumber. …A different source said the best Canada could hope for is an agreement from the U.S. to discuss forestry tariffs further. BC’s forestry industry has been hit hard by the Trump policies because the Section 232 tariffs on lumber stack on top of pre-existing countervailing and anti-dumping tariffs. The B.C. Lumber Trade Council’s interim president, Kim Haakstad, said Sunday she is concerned that if the 232 tariffs stay in place, more mills could close. [to access the full story a Glove & Mail subscription is required]
Hundreds of stunned B.C. businesses are scrambling. …Doug Pauze, president of Coastland Wood Industries woke up Saturday to an escalating trade war with a 50% tariff target on the wood veneer that Coastland produces. With about 50% of its product typically exported to the US… that means scaling back production. For now, he’ll will avoid layoffs among his 320 employees. What the industry needs from counter-tariffs, he added, is for Canada to put an equal focus on the same amount of competing wood products coming into Canada, because “there (are) no other market options.” …Prime Minister Carney has vowed to levy counter-tariffs on US imports. BC business owner Baha Naemi hopes his government focuses on markets where Canadians can fill any voids the counter-tariffs create. Naemi’s company, CanCorr, makes corrugated cardboard and boxes in Surrey. …BC imports more corrugated paper products from the US than it exports, creating opportunities for Canadian producers hit by tariffs.
Prince George city council voted in favour of sending a letter to provincial Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside at its Monday, Aug. 17 meeting to reinstate a program helping workers near retirement in the wake of the impending closure of the Northwood Pulp Mill. At the Monday, Aug. 10 meeting of the city’s Standing Committee, members discussed the imminent closure of the mill. During that committee meeting, the city’s manager of economic development, Deklan Corstanje, said that the last time a mill closed, workers were able to access a provincial program called Bridging to Retirement. Before the program stopped accepting applications on Feb. 26, 2025, it provided forestry worked aged 55 and older with funding to help facilitate an early retirement. …The committee ultimately passed a motion recommending that council approve Mayor Simon Yu sending a letter to Whiteside asking for the program’s restoration.
For nearly twenty-five years, I have lived in Northern Ontario… and watched one of the province’s foundational industries contract around us. The decline of forestry, and particularly of pulp and paper. …Today, watching the escalating trade conflict between Canada and the US and the extraordinary pressure being placed on Ontario’s automobile industry, I find myself wondering whether there is anything useful in that experience for Southern Ontario. …Act earlier. Distinguish a temporary shock from structural decline. Reduce real cost disadvantages where they exist. Use public money to secure future products and future capital rather than merely extending yesterday’s production. Protect suppliers, tooling, engineering and skilled labour, not simply the assembly building. Treat the loss of the next product mandate as seriously as the loss of the current shift. Northern Ontario learned these lessons at considerable cost. Southern Ontario now has the opportunity to use them.
“One of the hazards of free trade with the United States is the risk of what we’re witnessing now, that the United States could use its economic levers and turn on us as this behemouth next door that has become hostile without us having the time or opportunity to pivot,” said Tom Urbaniak, a professor at Cape Breton University….Where does Nova Scotia stand? “I don’t know,” Stephen Cole answered when asked whether the new tariffs will affect the province’s lumber and paper industries. …Sawmill owners had the same answer. Nova Scotia softwood exports south of the border have been protected under the CUSMA. “We have mostly private wood (about 70% cut off private land), so our timber market here is deemed to be a competitive market,” explained Cole. …What the Nova Scotia forestry industry doesn’t know yet is whether that CUSMA exemption remains under the new tariffs.
The US International Trade Commission (USITC) announced its injury determinations in its antidumping and countervailing duty investigations concerning hardwood and decorative plywood from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam that the US Department of Commerce determined are subsidized and sold in the US at less than fair value and subsidized by the governments of China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. …Chairman Brett W. Doyle and Commissioners Jason S. Kearns and Peter-Anthony Pappas voted in the affirmative regarding hardwood and decorative plywood from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. They also found that the imports of softwood structural plywood downfall and stamped and certified softwood structural plywood that Commerce determined are sold at less than fair value and subsidized… are negligible, and voted to terminate the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations for these products from China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The report will be available on the USITC website by September 28, 2026.
From the Arkansas line, in all directions down through much of Louisiana, dipping even into Cajun country, you see trees. Everywhere. The depth and breadth of our pine and hardwood stands and forests are almost indiscernible. …For as long as most can remember, this industry was the heartbeat of rural Louisiana and stood as the backbone of our economy in Louisiana, producing lumber, paper, and dozens of other wood products that generated living wages and pockets of prosperity through nearly every parish. …Total industry output still registers in the billions, yet the practical reality on the ground is stagnation. Major paper mills that once absorbed millions of tons of fiber have closed. …Meanwhile, pulpwood prices sit near multi-decade lows. Our loggers wrestle with rising insurance and operating costs propelled by our judicial and litigious climate while landowners see returns on investment shrink. The giant that was our timber industry is still standing, but it is staggering.
A six-week production shutdown at Metsä Fibre’s large bioproduct mill in Kemi will temporarily reduce demand for pulpwood in northern Finland. At the same time, Stora Enso is considering closing the Veitsiluoto sawmill permanently. The announcements increase uncertainty for forest owners, logging contractors and transport companies, although they do not mean that the regional wood trade will come to a standstill. Metsä Fibre will suspend production at its Kemi bioproduct mill for six weeks during October and November 2026. The shutdown will allow the company to modernise the mill’s cooking system and will be coordinated with its regular annual maintenance outage. The unusually long stoppage is expected to reduce the mill’s immediate consumption of pulpwood. …The immediate consequences are likely to include softer demand and more complicated logistics during the autumn. This does not amount to a collapse of northern Finland’s wood market. 
MAINE — Softwood lumber from Canada is already tarriffed at 45% — this round of tariff won’t impact softwood – but it will impact a range of other building supplies – cement, steel, aluminum, copper products – and a range of lumber products like plywood, fiberboard, and oriented strand board. “Right now the cheapest prices is out of Canada and a lot of this product comes out of Canada.” All of these are products that are known for their resilience – used in everything from custom cabinets to exterior siding. Hillside Lumber co-owner Mike Knight says the tariff increase could wind up causing increased demand for American lumber. “They can’t keep up with the demand if we cut off Canada altogether.” That in turn, could lead to higher prices for domestic products too. “Not that I’m against having everything here in the US but I think if the timing is off.” …The increase trickles down, ultimately hitting the home buyers.
VANCOUVER, BC — Conifex Timber reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. EBITDA was negative $6.3 million for the quarter compared to EBITDA of negative $7.7 million in the first quarter of 2026 and negative EBITDA of $3.2 million in the second quarter of 2025. Net loss was $9.5 million or the quarter versus a net loss of $9.4 million in the previous quarter and a net loss of $8.3 million in the second quarter of 2025. …Revenues from lumber products were $19.0 million in the second quarter of 2026, representing an increase of 27% from the previous quarter and a decrease of 31% from the second quarter of 2025. … Electricity production contributed revenues of $2.8 million in the second quarter of 2026, $5.2 million in the previous quarter, and $3.6 million in the second quarter of 2025.
With interest from Big Tech and a new bill before Congress that would expand its use in federal projects, mass timber is on the cusp of a new era of growth. Relatively stable lumber prices that buck the broader trend of increasingly expensive construction inputs are meeting with greater levels of comfort around the material’s use to drive faster adoption after years of cautious incorporation. “There’s a more robust supply chain and we’re getting more experienced,” said Dean Lewis, director of mass timber and prefabrication for Skanska USA. “When you say, ‘I want to use mass timber,’ people aren’t like, ‘What is that?’ They want to know what you want to do with it. The conversation has changed.” Construction using mass timber is expected to grow to a $5.7B market by 2030, with annual growth rates topping 20% to 30%, according to Grand View Research data. [to access the full story a BISNOW subscription is required]
Washington has been developing new wildfire safety regulations for several years, including building codes for homes constructed in risky areas and rules for managing plants and vegetation. But restrictions that affect people’s homes and gardens can be unpopular. After public pushback, state legislators backtracked and repealed some of the requirements. Other Western states have also struggled to pass wildfire regulations affecting homeowners’ properties. …Understanding wildfire risk can be challenging in many Western states. For floods, the federal government releases national maps showing which places are at risk of inundation. Wildfire mapping is left to the states, which involves using complex computer models to determine the chances of a fire based on vegetation, terrain and fire behavior. …Washington state officials say the new wildfire maps will be released in December. …Oregon faced similar pushback while developing its wildfire regulations. …Building codes for housing in wildfire-prone areas were pioneered by California.
AUSTRALIA — Forest & Wood Products Australia released a draft standard for cross laminated timber design to provide a dedicated framework for the structural design of CLT elements. The Standard has undergone independent technical review and provides comprehensive design methods for structural CLT components, subject to the requirements and limitations described in the Scope. Developed through collaboration with industry, researchers and technical experts, the Standard is intended to give architects, engineers and builders a national method for designing cross-laminated timber floors, walls and stairs, under a 46-page document out for comment. …Industry Benefits include consistency across engineering, manufacturing and certification practices; growing use of CLT and mass timber construction in Australia; and an independently reviewed basis for CLT structural design. …The public comment period for this Standard is open for a six-week period to 29 September.
TAIWAN — The Taiwan Forestry Research Institute said it is promoting full utilization of Taiwan’s incense cedar to develop a high-value circular economy for forest resources. Incense cedar is an endemic species of Taiwan and is one of Taiwan’s five major coniferous tree species, the institute said. …While Taiwan incense cedar wood is popular with consumers thanks to its distinctive aroma, surplus materials generated during the process of forest tending, pruning and wood processing are usually used as fuel or disposed of, it said. The institute’s Chiayi Research Center promoted research on the reutilization of Taiwan incense cedar surplus materials at the Yunshui Experiment Station from last year to this year, the institute said. Water distillation was applied to extract Taiwan incense cedar oil from surplus materials, while the remaining materials would be ground into scented powder or made into incense cones, it said.
SFU researchers say the amount of money BC has spent fighting wildfires in recent years is almost the same as what the province has collected in natural gas royalties. They say it demonstrates how BC households are already paying for the costs of climate change. The researchers said the average cost of fighting wildfires in BC over the past 10 years was more than twice as much as the decade prior. …“Royalties from the gas sector are virtually the same as what it costs to manage and mitigate wildfires in BC,” said co-author Andy Hira, a professor of political science. …BC’s natural gas industry only represents “a fraction of global emissions,” Lisa Baiton, CEO of Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said. Dan McTeague, a former Liberal MP said the energy sector’s much-bigger economic footprint gets lost when the debate narrows to royalties alone.
Canada has released the first ever biological control agent to tackle invasive common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), an invasive plant that negatively impacts the country and wider region’s livestock, rangeland, and native biodiversity. The release of the agent – a stem-mining weevil called Microplontus millefolii – marks a major milestone in efforts to manage this invasive plant across North America, reducing its ecological and economic impacts. In partnership with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) conducted the first releases of 1,200 adult weevils in May. AAFC conducted a further release of 400 weevils in Alberta in June. …These releases target areas experiencing significant, negative impacts on agriculture and biodiversity. …The common tansy has diminished the health of lands used for livestock foraging, as well as displaced native vegetation, and has hindered forest regeneration following logging. …Over 10,000ha of common tansy has been recorded in BC across all climate zones said BC’s Janine Brooke.
BC’s government is contemplating carving the province into three zones to “provide greater clarity” to the timber industry, and discussions have so far left out First Nations. The zoning plan is outlined in an email sent in early July to public servants in the Ministry of Forests and the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship. “The concept will consider three zones: commercial forestry, multiple-use and conservation and protection,” the leaked email reads, adding the zones will “provide greater clarity to achieve both investment stability and community economic benefits, and biodiversity and ecosystem stewardship goals for the land base.” The email provides no detail on how much forest might ultimately be placed in each of the zones, leaving open questions about just what impact the proposed plan would have on everything from at-risk species to rural and First Nations communities, and a logging industry that has been on a sharp downward spiral for years.
NORTH GRENVILLE, Ontario — The government is investing $865,000 in the Ontario Woodlot Association (OWA) to enhance private forest management and establish new supply chains for mill by-products and underused wood known as forest biomass. This investment will… test a business model that could double sustainable private harvesting over the next 10 to 15 years. …Ontario is investing $790,000 through the Forest Biomass Program to help the OWA create three new jobs and acquire equipment for the Wood Stewardship Program (WSP). This initiative will increase forest sector productivity by connecting businesses to biomass in privately owned forests. …The project will use up to 100,000 cubic metres of forest biomass over five years, creating new markets to maximize the value of wood and increase the industry’s diversification into value‑added manufacturing. Ontario is also investing $75,000 to support OWA workshops, conferences, publications and collaboration to promote sustainable forest management on private lands.
WASHINGTON — A Thurston County, Washington judge upheld larger riparian buffers on timberlands in Western Washington, affirming a rule that will take 200,000 acres out of timber production. In ruling from the bench Aug. 21, Superior Court Judge Christine Schaller said the Forest Practices Board lawfully adopted the new buffer rule after years of study. She acknowledged the economic hardship faced by timberland owners and that her ruling will be appealed. The board, which regulates logging, voted 7-5 last year to expand buffers along streams without fish. The rule will go into effect Aug. 31 and require continuous 65- to 75-foot buffers. The old rule called for 50-foot buffers on half the length of streams. The Washington Department of Ecology said bigger buffers were need to prevent logging from raising stream temperatures in most cases. The timber industry says the buffers will immediately eliminate $1.8 billion worth of timber and have little environmental benefit
CALIFORNIA — More than 4 million acres of California forest land may lose protected status under a proposed rollback of the Roadless Rule by the U.S. Forest Service. The federal government says the rollback is necessary to allow responsible timber production and wildfire mitigation efforts. Opponents argue rescinding the rule, which prohibits road construction and logging on 45 million acres of national forest land, would increase development, harm wildlife habitat, threaten water supplies and worsen wildfire risk. A public comment period on the proposal to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule is open through midnight Sept. 21, 2026. More than 95% of roadless areas are in 10 Western states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming, per the USDA. In California, the proposal would open up 4,416,000 acres of roadless land across the state, which has nearly 21 million acres of national forest, the most of any state except Alaska.
California has adopted the toughest rules in the country to help protect communities from burning. Homeowners in wildfire-prone areas will be required to limit plants within five feet of their house, a protective measure that wildfire experts say can help prevent homes from igniting. …Wednesday’s vote by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection comes after years of debate and delays. The state originally considered rules that would have restricted all vegetation within five feet of a house, aside from well-maintained trees. That generated pushback from some communities. …California regulators ultimately struck a compromise. Lawns, flowers and non-woody plants up to 18 inches tall will be allowed, unless they are located directly under the roofline of a house. Trees will be allowed, though branches must be trimmed five feet away from a structure. The rules will apply to new construction right away, but will be phased in for existing structures.
The northern spotted owl is in trouble—per usual. This vanishingly rare subspecies of spotted owl earned its iconic status in the late ’80s and early ’90s, during the height of the Timber Wars in the Pacific Northwest. For forest defenders, the spotted owl is a sacred totem. For loggers, it’s been a pest. In 1990, federal officials reclassified the raptor as a threatened species, and greens won the Timber Wars with the establishment of the Clinton-era Northwest Forest Plan. The spotted owl left the trees standing—yet the number of spotted owls continued to decline. The culprit? The barred owl. …Today, just 15,000 spotted owls remain across North America; in comparison, there are some 3.5 million barred owls. So officials with the US Fish and Wildlife Service have come up with a bold plan to help the spotted owls: Shoot the barred owls.
Today, many Washingtonians may be unaware that a looming federal policy change could have major consequences for the availability, quality and cost of the freshwater they rely on daily. …In August 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture officially launched a process to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Implemented in 2001, the Rule designated special areas across nearly 60 million acres of forests within the National Forest System. …The Rule reflects scientific evidence that extensive logging and road building contributed to widespread loss and fragmentation of habitat for wildlife and salmon, and degraded water quality for downstream communities. Just how important are roadless areas in national forests? To answer this question, we conducted the science and 
FRANCE — The megafire in Gironde, southwest France, has been “contained” since July 30, but foresters are still prohibited from entering the heart of their plots that were ravaged by the flames. It is too dangerous: With lingering smoke and a still-hot ground, the passage of a vehicle could rekindle the embers. As with the nearby fire in Landiras in 2022, they will probably have to wait for the fall rains before the fire can be officially declared extinguished. A race against time will then begin to fell all the burned trees as quickly as possible before the appearance of the destructive bark beetle and in the hope of selling the timber for the best possible price, depending on the extent of the burn. …The most damaged parts could be turned into heating pellets, while the preserved sections could be used for pallets, the paper industry or as timber. [to access the full story a Le Monde subscription is required]
For decades, the economics of a pulp mill have centered primarily on fiber, energy and established byproducts. But as low-carbon markets develop, another potential source of value is emerging from the mill itself: biogenic carbon dioxide. Biogenic CO₂ is generated from biomass rather than fossil sources. As governments and companies look for ways to reduce emissions, captured biogenic CO₂ can potentially serve two very different low-carbon markets: as feedstock for synthetic fuels and as a source of permanent carbon dioxide removal. That is beginning to change the conversation around carbon capture. Rather than viewing CO₂ solely as an emissions-management challenge, some pulp mills may increasingly be able to view it as a potential product. For pulp mills, that creates an important strategic question: Which market offers the greatest value for each ton of captured CO₂? …Biogenic CO₂ is just one of several emerging opportunities reshaping the economics of pulp production.