The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday, Oct. 8, edition that Canadian exports fell 3 per cent in August, leading to a merchandise trade deficit of $6.3-billion, nearly double July's $3.8-billion, according to Statistics Canada. The Globe's Mark Rendell writes that the decline, which followed three months of growth, was largely due to an 11.8-per-cent drop in unwrought gold shipments, along with decreases in industrial machinery, equipment, and forestry products. Prime Minister Mark Carney met with with President Donald Trump on Tuesday to seek relief from ongoing tariffs. Exports of lumber and sawmill products dropped 25.4 per cent, reaching the lowest level since May, 2020, following increased U.S. antidumping and countervailing tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber that began in late July and August. Overall, exports fell in eight of 11 categories. "In volume terms, exports were down by 2.8 per cent, and imports were down by 0.3 per cent. This suggests that the tariff shock is still limiting activity, and net trade won't be as big of a positive for Q3 GDP as we previously expected," Katherine Judge, senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, wrote in a note to clients.