The US and Canada could pull back from an all-out trade war, although there is little sign yet that either side will. In related news: Trump suggests US added 11th hour conditions; Carney stresses Team Canada approach; Gov. Newsome says Trump will change course; BC First Nations businesses brace for trade war; FPAC welcomes Ottawa’s support; Honda may not build a new plant in North America; concerns rise about higher tissue and paper prices; lumber tariffs add to homebuilding costs; and layoffs have begun in Nova Scotia’s white pine sector. Meanwhile: reports of curtailments at Tolko’s Heffley Creek mill are inaccurate; Port Alberni leaders say Domtar’s paper mill is safe; and Brazil’s pulp and paper producers seek import protection.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: an Edmonton Journal story on the trade war’s impact on Canada’s environment; calls for cutting red tape for prescribed burning in BC; and legal challenges expected on US Roadless Rule repeal, as opposition grows in Alaska. Meanwhile, a record breaking Oregon timber sale; BC’s Johnson Creek fire continues to threaten properties; Oregon firefighters are making progress despite new fires; and a Texas wildfire mushrooms in hours.
Finally, Idaho’s state-specific Roadless Rule is being touted as a model for other states.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive for North Americans as the 
First Nations are grappling with uncertainty and bracing for impact as the Canada-U.S. trade war escalates, with steep tariffs taking effect on some business sectors. … British Columbia faces the highest consequences to the new 50 per cent tariffs on certain goods, causing concern among First Nations in the province that are involved in forestry. John Jack, elected chief councillor of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations on Vancouver Island, said they are “potentially deeply impacted due to our heavy investment in the forestry industry.” Those investments include its own company, HFN Forestry Limited, a 35-per-cent partnership with Western Forest Products on nearly 137,000 hectares of forest, and Iskum Investments, a First Nations consortium looking at building a second-growth focused mill. …Dallas Smith, president of the Nanwakolas Council, which represents six First Nations on northern Vancouver Island, said the new tariffs would greatly affect its investments in forestry. 
WASHINGTON — The US and Canada have 
The Canadian government has announced its plan to hit the United States with dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on 
Late Thursday, Tolko issued a statement addressing reports that its Heffley Creek veneer facility was facing an indefinite curtailment. “We are aware of reports circulating about an indefinite curtailment at Tolko’s Heffley Creek veneer facility,” the company said. “This reporting is inaccurate.” Hot and dry conditions are impacting some Tolko harvesting operations, resulting in reduced fiber supply and a temporary shutdown of veneer production. The remainder of the Heffley Creek facility is fully operational, with full production expected to return this week.
Port Alberni’s 80-year old paper mill is safe according to local leaders. The economic centre of the city is now reeling from partner pulp mills closing, high fibre prices, and Trump’s tariffs, creating a cloud of concern. Courtenay – Alberni MP Gord Johns said governments have given successive ownership companies millions of dollars in funding and tax breaks, and he’s been assured by the current owners Domtar that the Port Alberni paper mill is safe from closure. “The indications that I got in my conversations with the company is that there is no threat of imminent closure in Port Alberni, so that was positive, and all indicators right now is that operations aren’t under threat,” he said. Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions agrees. …Domtar’s Senior Manager of Strategic Communications Brenda Martin, said they do not anticipate any disruption to the mill’s production schedule or their ability to meet customer commitments.
Nova Scotia’s softwood lumber exports south of the border have been spared from Donald Trump’s tariffs, but pine products from the province are facing steep new costs in the deepening trade rift between Canada and the United States. About 60 to 80 per cent of Nova Scotia’s pine products — some $25 million worth — are shipped to the U.S., and they have been hammered with 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the president over the weekend. The province’s forestry industry said the tariffs “will essentially kill the white pine market in Nova Scotia.” “It’s concerning,” Breck Stuart, president of Forest Nova Scotia, said in an interview Monday. “The western half of Nova Scotia, where there’s a lot of white pine, that’s 30 per cent of our forest. That market basically went to zero overnight. …Stuart said most of the province’s pine products flow through Freeman Lumber in Greenfield, Millett Lumber in Chester and Lewis Moulding and Wood Specialties in Weymouth.
Exporters across Brazil shipped US$7.5 billion of pulp, paper, and wood panels over the first half of 2026, down 5.9 per cent on the same months last year, while imports of paper into a market that has always supplied itself climbed 30.5 per cent. That is according to Indústria Brasileira de Árvores, the association representing the country’s pulp, paper, and panel producers, which last week revealed that its export sales into the North American market had sunk by 22.9 per cent. “There is an excess of production from some countries being directed to Latin America and Brazil,” Paulo Hartung said, with the Ibá president putting the half-year down to wars and to a resurgence of protectionism that has disorganised international supply chains. Pulp, the biggest single line in the sector’s export schedule, accounted for $5.2 billion of that total, with export volumes down 10.5 per cent to 9.4 million tonnes, while production held near-stable at 13.9 million tonnes.
The U.S.-Canada trade war escalated sharply over the weekend. …There are a few obvious implications of the trade war that could fall on Canada’s environment and the nation’s natural resources:
Last week, the Trump administration announced it was moving forward with efforts to rescind the national Roadless Rule, which has governed roadless areas of U.S. Forest Service land for a quarter-century. But Idaho won’t be affected. That’s because of an effort, launched two decades ago during the brief governorship of now-Sen. Jim Risch, to secure a specific statewide roadless rule. Colorado is the only other state with its own rule. Idaho’s rule will remain in place, even if the Trump administration succeeds in reversing the national rule — a tragic outcome that places at risk some of the best remaining patches of wild habitat for fish and game, and risks increasing the number of wildfires, which are mostly caused by humans, mostly near roads. Idaho’s rule could provide a viable model for future protection of roadless areas in an era when federal land management decisions are likely to whipsaw with every presidential election for the foreseeable future.
