The US declined to renew CUSMA, setting the stage for annual trade reviews while the agreement remains in force until 2036. In other Business news: Ottawa and BC sign a prosperity agreement that includes forest sector commitments; Canfor completed its acquisition of PinkWood; Nordic Veneer will close its Roseburg, Oregon operations; Mercer extends pulp mill shutdown in Rosenthal, Germany; and Alden Robbins died from his injuries in the May 15 Robbins Lumber explosion. Meanwhile: Kevin Mason says US housing will continue to face headwinds; the EPA tightens emissions rules for wood plants; and Europe’s paper industry is slowly eroding.
In Forestry news: FPAC’s Derek Nighbor opines on his new wood role and the importance of active forest management; Canada and Quebec reach agreement on caribou recovery; BC’s chief forester halves the AAC in the Kispiox TSA; Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz celebrates US’s 250th; and Utah professor says Congress should reinstate revoked land management plans. Meanwhile: BC is balancing the benefits of fire with the health risks of smoke; and wildfire updates from BC, Quebec, Colorado and Europe.
Finally, science, not paperwork, may become the best defence against Russian timber fraud.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
The Trump administration surprised no one with its long-expected announcement Wednesday that the U.S. would not join Canada and Mexico in extending the free trade deal between the three countries. Where things go from here, however, with renegotiating the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement is anyone’s guess. One thing is certain: the deal remains in effect while the negotiations happen, as it doesn’t expire for another 10 years. The only circumstance that would change that is an official six-month notice of withdrawal, something Trump has stopped short of threatening to do. Domestic political concerns keep the White House from scrapping the trade agreement, according to Simon Lester, a trade expert at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He says CUSMA has broad support from Republicans in Congress, particularly those from agricultural states. …On paper, according to the text of CUSMA, the three sides could now enter a perpetual series of renegotiations every year.
The Trump administration’s decision to forgo renewal of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on the July 1 deadline has opened a new front in the ongoing trade war — and one with direct consequences for US homebuilders and the mortgage professionals who serve them. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer confirmed on Wednesday that the three countries met virtually for the required joint review and that the US declined to extend the agreement in its current form. The USMCA remains in effect until 2036 but will now be subject to annual reviews that could force significant renegotiation of major sections of the treaty, a development that has rattled an already strained construction supply chain. …Canadian softwood lumber already carries a combined duty burden of 45%. That cost has steadily compressed builder margins even as new home demand remains sluggish and housing starts have declined every year since their 2021 peak.
VANCOUVER, BC — Canfor Corporation announced it has completed the acquisition of PinkWood Ltd, Western Canada’s largest I-joist facility based in Calgary, Alberta. The acquisition, announced on June 9, 2026, complements Canfor’s existing operations in Alberta and British Columbia “We’re excited to welcome the PinkWood operation, its management team and its employees to the Canfor family,” said Susan Yurkovich, President and CEO of Canfor. “The acquisition represents a strong strategic fit for both companies and supports the continued growth of Canfor’s value-added manufacturing capabilities.” PinkWood will retain its name and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Canfor. The operation will add 120 employees, and 46 million linear feet of annual I-joist production capacity.
Cepi’s 
A new federal rule will tighten hazardous-air-pollutant standards for plywood and composite wood products plants, including dryers, presses, refiners and lumber kilns. The 
BC’s chief forester has set the new allowable annual cut (AAC), the maximum amount of timber that can be harvested each year, for the Kispiox timber supply area (TSA) in the Skeena region. The new AAC is 496,000 cubic metres, a nearly 50% reduction from the previous AAC. Although the AAC has decreased, it is approximately 39% higher than the average annual harvest between 2019 and 2023, which was 356,378 cubic metres. …The TSA overlaps the territory of the Gitxsan Nation, Gitanyow Nation, Lake Babine Nation, Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha Nation, Kitselas First Nation, Wet’suwet’en Nation, and Witset First Nation. …The Kispiox TSA also partially overlaps with the Nass Wildlife Area and the Nass Area, as defined in the Nisga’a Treaty. The determination aligns with legislation defined in the Nisga’a Treaty and considers interests identified by First Nations, including the management of cedar, old forests, wildlife habitat and wildlife tree retention.
The German government has approved a draft law designed to limit the support for electricity generation from woody biomass, aiming the meet the EU requirements. As a result, certain categories of wood will be excluded from subsidisation under Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), such as saw logs, veneer logs, other industrial-grade roundwood and stumps and roots harvested from forests. Electricity generation from these types of wood, however, may still receive support if it is necessary to safeguard Germany’s energy security or if local industry is unable to use the forestry biomass in ways that deliver greater economic and environmental value than energy production. Under the proposed law, industrial wood residues will remain eligible for financing.
Across BC, significant wildfires have become an annual occurrence, underscoring the need for forest management practices to reduce long-term wildfire risk. While activities such as prescribed burning are beneficial for fuel management, both wildfire and prescribed fires produce smoke that can pose significant risks to human health. Notably, the impacts of smoke often extend beyond areas directly affected by fire, as smoke can travel significant distances, exposing communities both near and far from the fires. While the health risks specific to prescribed fire smoke remain understudied, the impacts of wildfire smoke on human health are becoming more widely understood. Substantial 
Hundreds of firefighters have been battling forest infernos in heatwave-scarred Europe, as temperatures are set to rise again on Sunday, local time. The latest wildfires have already devastated more than 17,000 hectares of land across France, Spain and Portugal where temperatures in some places are forecast to reach 40C. Authorities registered 