The BC Lumber Trade Council says Canadian softwood lumber now faces total import taxes of almost 35% after the latest review from the US. The organization representing BC lumber producers says the new figure is down from the combined rate of 45% announced in August last year. But Kim Haakstad, the council’s interim president, says their members are disappointed that Canadian lumber producers still face unjustified and punitive trade measures. She says in a statement that the combined weight of duties and tariffs remains a significant burden on producers. …The council says the Commerce Department has imposed countervailing duties at 14.11%, an anti-dumping rate of 10.64%, and the additional tariff of 10%, which President Trump levied on the grounds of national security. Haakstad says the US are also paying a price, because trade barriers have driven up the cost of building and hurt companies that sell equipment and services to Canadian mills.
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- Government of Ontario: U.S. Softwood Lumber Duties Continue to Increase Costs for American and Canadian Families
Canada and the European Union are laying out concrete steps to strengthen ties around digital security, critical resources and a would-be fleet of Canadian water bombers, according to a draft joint statement ahead of a major summit at month’s end. The document states that Ottawa and Brussels aim to let Canadian companies bid on cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure contracts typically reserved for European companies in another push away from dependence on the United States. Dubbed an “alliance for the future,” the renewed partnership also launches plans for Canada to join in Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system and wraps up a deal to facilitate European investment in Canadian critical minerals. It further announces the joint purchase of 50 Canadian-made De Havilland water bombers it claims will be ready for use in fighting wildfires in 2030. …The challenge lies in fending off backlash from the White House, said professor Patrick Leblond. 
WASHINGTON — The NAFTA Secretariat has published formal notice of an October 5, 2026, binational panel decision concerning countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber products. The panel affirmed the US Department of Commerce’s Second Redetermination on Remand in the matter of Certain Softwood Lumber Products from Canada: Final Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination. The decision relates to a challenge filed under NAFTA’s Article 1904 dispute settlement mechanism, which provides for binational panel review of trade remedy determinations.
CALGARY — Canada’s lumber and steel industries are warning that expanding overseas sales cannot make up for losing access to the American market as tariffs threaten mills, jobs and manufacturing output. Industry representatives told the Senate national finance committee that Canada faces significant limits in shifting exports to other countries, Blacklock’s Reporter reported. Derek Nighbor, CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada, said Canadian lumber and wood products sales to the US total about $14 billion annually. “It’s not a matter of just putting sticks on a boat and sending them somewhere else,” Nighbor testified. While producers see potential in Japan, China, South Korea and the European Union, Nighbor cautioned those markets cannot absorb enough Canadian products to replace American demand. … Further growth requires work on building codes, relationships with governments and local businesses, and training builders to use Canadian wood products.
Plaintiffs led by the Canadian government will appeal the Court of International Trade’s July 27 ruling that upheld the Commerce Department’s use of a differential pricing analysis to detect masked dumping in a case challenging the 2021 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on Canadian softwood lumber, according to a Sept. 23 
President Trump’s ban on nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian goods went into effect Tuesday, marking the latest salvo in a trade war between the U.S. and its longtime ally to the north. The restrictions include Canadian dairy products, motor vehicles and many alcoholic beverages. Trump, in signing the executive orders to ban the goods, cited Canadian “discrimination” against the American equivalents. Jacob Jensen, as the American Action Forum, said the limits cover $967 million worth of Canadian imports, based on 2025 data. The president last month slapped 50 percent tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of Canadian products, levies that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government matched “dollar for dollar. …Carney, meanwhile, has used the trade dispute with Trump to shift his country’s cooperative focus elsewhere. 
The United Steelworkers union (USW) welcomes the BC NDP’s commitments to support forestry workers and communities through new investments to keep mills operating, protect jobs and strengthen BC’s forestry sector. The union says the plan is a positive step toward addressing the challenges facing the industry. The BC NDP’s proposed $120-million Forestry Jobs Protection Fund, investments in mill modernization, improved access to fibre and efforts to expand international markets are welcome commitments for an industry hit hard by decades of unfair US tariffs, mill closures and job losses. …The USW is also calling on all candidates in the BC election to support a Working Forest strategy that balances conservation, reconciliation and good jobs. This includes securing a reliable timber supply for BC mills, directly tying logging rights to keeping mills operating and workers employed, and establishing a Forestry Jobs Protection Commissioner to help prevent further mill closures.
A new manufacturing operation coming to Chemainus is expected to create 30 jobs by early 2027, with plans to grow to 70 positions over the next three years. Japan-based Shinohara Nexus Group will open a production facility on a portion of the Chemainus sawmill site, leased from Western Forest Products. North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said he met with Shinohara Group’s senior management team, including the company’s president and CEO, to discuss the project. The investment was also discussed with North Cowichan council members by B.C. Forests Minister Ravi Parmar during the Union of BC Municipalities convention. According to Douglas, the operation will be housed in two existing storage buildings at the site. Western Forest Products has told the United Steelworkers the new operation will not impact the Chemainus sawmill’s ability to restart. Shinohara has operated manufacturing facilities producing pre-cut lumber for approximately 4,000 residential, commercial and institutional buildings each year.
David Eby initially framed this election as being about who’s the best choice to fight the threat posed by Donald Trump. …Pshaw, Eby’s critics say. …Whether Eby is using Trump as a strawman, and whether the New Democrats are the ones to counter the president and his tariffs, is up for debate. What’s not in dispute, though, is those tariffs hit the forest sector hard. In the outer reaches of ridings like North Island and Mid Island-Pacific Rim — places more wild and rugged than tamed, uncalloused Victoria — they’ll tell you the tariffs are just one more challenge to an already struggling industry. People in forestry also fret about access to fibre, the depletion of valuable Douglas fir, wildfires, regulatory burden, transportation costs and, yes, cross-border wrangling. …Eby said B.C. would fight tariffs by adding $90 million to existing government programs to attract investment and jobs to rural areas.
The Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear an appeal involving CN Rail and Alberta Pacific Forest Industries that could clarify the courts’ authority to review decisions of the Canadian Transportation Agency. The case centres on whether factual findings by the agency can be challenged through judicial review, despite statutory limits on appeals.
The announcement that BC’s Howe Sound pulp and paper operation will remain open after securing government support has reignited questions about whether a similar intervention could have been pursued for Canfor’s Northwood pulp mill in Prince George. Domtar’s future has changed dramatically following discussions involving government officials, the company and union representatives. According to Unifor’s Gavin McGarrigle, government assistance played a critical role. …For critics of the provincial government’s response to the Northwood closure, the contrasting outcomes raise difficult questions. …McGarrigle argues the key difference lies in the willingness of the parties involved to engage. …Canfor disputes the notion that support for Northwood was not pursued. …“Canfor has been advocating for years to address the critical shortfall of economic fibre needed to sustain our manufacturing facilities. …With respect to our pulp operations in the region, we are intensely focused on ensuring a strong future for Intercon and Specialty Paper operations in Prince George.
CLINTON, Ontario
Western red cedar, resawn and kiln-dried in New Zealand and on its way to American lumberyards, is now before the US Court of International Trade, with a New Hampshire distributor challenging a customs finding that it evaded the duties charged on Canadian softwood. That is 
Coastal Specialty Forest Products has 
The US hardwood industry is still working through a deep capacity contraction. At the 2026 National Hardwood Lumber Association convention, Hardwood Review said it had identified 151 publicly announced sawmill and yard closures since the start of 2023, while other presentations highlighted a larger role for log exports and NHLA’s longer-term efforts to develop new structural and value-added markets for hardwoods. Highlights include:
President Trump’s near-global tariff policy is being challenged in federal court — again. A panel of three judges at the US Court of International Trade heard arguments from a group of small businesses and Democratic-led states who say Trump’s sweeping “Section 301” tariffs overstep the law. It’s the third time in less than two years that the courts have been asked to intervene against the president’s attempt to impose sweeping tariffs on the vast majority of U.S. imports. The latest tariffs put 10% or 12.5% rates on goods from 86 countries, covering 99.4% of US imports. The Trump administration said they were imposed in response to the targeted countries failing to effectively enforce bans on the trade of goods produced using forced labor practices. But an attorney for the challengers said at the start of Wednesday’s hearing that a “constellation of factors” show the government’s justification was a “pretext” in pursuit of reviving Trump’s worldwide tariff regime.
Imported hardwood timber and lumber could be the next wood products to face a US national security tariff, with the Commerce Department’s one-year deadline to report back to the White House on those imports running out at the end of today in Washington. That is according to the proclamation President Donald Trump signed a year ago this week, which requested the update so he could decide whether the phased import duty that Commerce recommended in July last year is warranted. “By October 1, 2026, the Secretary shall provide the President with an update on imports of hardwood timber and lumber, their markets, and the domestic industry,” the proclamation instructs.” …Trump put off the planned increases to 30 and 50 per cent by a year at the end of last year, with the amended proclamation citing “productive negotiations of agreements with multiple countries” on wood products.
The US and China reached new trade and investment arrangements during President Xi Jinping’s September 2026 state visit to Washington, including the relaxation of tariffs affecting lumber and other wood products exported from the US to China. …According to a September 25, 2026 
Walmart has settled its case over more than US$80 million in claims against Structurlam, the Canadian mass timber manufacturer it hired to supply its new head office. That is according to the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which approved the settlement with the trust representing Structurlam’s creditors in July and closed the case in August. … According to the trust, Walmart first brought forward deadlines for one building in July 2022, then redesigned six of the eight main buildings a month later. The trust said Walmart also stopped paying for accepted timber and refused further deliveries over a glulam fault … The retailer ended the contract in January 2023, saying Structurlam had failed to deliver fully and on time and had not fixed the problems within the time allowed. … No objections to the settlement were lodged before the court approved it.
ROSENTHAL, Germany —During the restart process following a four-week maintenance shutdown, the plant received a report on October 1, 2026, regarding discoloration in the vicinity of the wastewater discharge point. As a precautionary measure to rule out any adverse effects on the environment and water bodies, the company immediately halted the restart process and the wastewater discharge, retaining the wastewater in the plant’s own buffer basins. The Saale-Orla District Office subsequently issued a temporary swimming ban for the southern section of the Bleiloch Reservoir as a precaution. Since the wastewater discharge was suspended on Thursday, the company has been in constant direct communication with the relevant authorities. On this basis, discharge from the plant’s own wastewater treatment facility into the Saale River was gradually resumed on October 3 in close coordination with the relevant environmental authorities. At the same time, preparations are underway to resume pulp production. [END]
