Despite ‘positive‘ meeting with President Trump, Prime Minister Carney returns home without a deal to remove US tariffs. In related news: Alberta’s Premier Smith speaks to US trade tensions at AFPA meeting; John Brink says tariffs on lumber are bizarre; and FPAC’s Derek Nighbor say’s there’s a reason Americans want Canadian wood. In other Business news: Cascades sells its Flexible Packaging plant in Mississauga; Canada’s trade gap widens; and lumber futures ease.
In other news: could offsite construction be Canada’s homebuilding’s saviour; mass timber takes centre stage in North Bay, Ontario; scientists say Canada’s forests are drying out; and its Fire Prevention week in America. Meanwhile: COFI announced its 2025 Forestry Scholarship recipients; UBC’s Faculty of Forestry received two CIF Awards; SFI-US announced Forest Stewardship Standard 2.0; and NeLMA elected Hancock Lumber’s Matt Duprey as board chair.
Finally, the first rural hospital-base air ambulance program was started by a Montana logger.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog News Editor
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Carney is set to return to Ottawa today with no deals to remove US tariffs from Canadian goods, but he’s leaving his key minister on Canada-US trade behind to keep pressing the Canadian case. US President Trump lavished praise on Carney during a meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday and said the prime minister would walk away “very happy.” The president showed no signs of relenting on tariffs, however, and no deal was announced. Carney was scheduled to have a working breakfast this morning with Joshua Bolten, CEO of the Business Roundtable, while Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was set to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be staying behind in Washington. LeBlanc told reporters Tuesday that substantial progress was made in the White House talks this week.
Canada’s international trade deficit swelled to $6.3 billion in August, its second-largest shortfall on record, as new United States tariffs took a heavy toll on key exports and injected fresh volatility into cross-border flows. The latest figures, released by Statistics Canada, show how US trade policy continues to affect Canadian exporters and make the Bank of Canada’s next interest rate decision more complicated. Exports in August fell 3% by value and 3.2% in volume, led by sharp declines in copper ore and lumber shipments, both of which were hit by new US tariffs. …Imports, meanwhile, rose 0.9%, buoyed by higher consumer goods, a sign of resilient household demand, even as business investment remained soft. …Exports to the US, Canada’s largest trading partner, fell 3.4% in August after three consecutive monthly gains, and were down 8% year-over-year. Exports to non-US destinations edged up 1.8% from a year ago but slipped 2% from July.
Lumber futures fell toward $600 per thousand board feet, easing from the near two-month high of $615.50 on October 3rd as the prior speculative rally reversed amid softer demand, looming tariff implementation, and inventory rebalancing. Demand has weakened as homebuilders and material buyers pull back amid higher construction costs and tighter mortgage affordability that curb new housing starts. At the same time, many market participants had frontloaded purchases ahead of the US 10% Section 232 tariff on softwood lumber and higher duties on wood furniture and cabinets effective October 14th, creating a short-term inventory overhang that reduced fresh order flow. On the supply side, domestic sawmills have ramped up shipments to cover earlier shortages, while Canadian exporters remain constrained by heavy anti-dumping and countervailing duties that limit flexibility, easing prompt tightness. [END]
ATLANTA — Forest Stewardship Council US announced the approval of the revised 
FREMONT, Nebraska — Confined and concentrated combustible dust can ignite and generate secondary dust explosions “powerful enough to destroy buildings,” the Chemical Safety Board warns. CSB issued the warning as part of its