Softwood lumber was never altogether outside of NAFTA, as the article notes that trade dispute resolution panels generally sided with Canada on softwood lumber disputes that came to them, and they were part of NAFTA. Trudeau was too busy building a bromance with Obama to even publicly mention softwood lumber when the Three Amigos Summit opened in Ottawa, let alone get a softwood lumber agreement. Now the industry is already hit hard by US protectionist duties, and if things go Pete Tong Trudeau may not even have a trade dispute resolution panel to take them to. He could have set out his own list of what a revamped NAFTA would look like anytime between November and now, pencilling continuation of the dispute resolution panels into them, but never did so.