Donald Trump has threatened to place new tariffs on Canada, blaming the country for wildfire smoke that has drifted across the border and smothered major U.S. cities in unhealthy air. In a Friday post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States was “holding Canada responsible” for what he described as poor forest and brush management. He claimed America was being “invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air” that was “dangerous” and “totally unacceptable,” and said he planned to call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to demand answers. Trump argued the damage was “incalculable,” calling the situation “willful negligence” and saying the costs “must of necessity be added to the tariffs Canada is currently paying.”
The dispute comes as wildfires burning in Ontario have sent thick plumes of smoke southward, triggering widespread air quality problems across the United States. Hazy skies and a sharp smell of smoke have been reported in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC, among other areas. The National Weather Service has issued air quality alerts in at least 16 states as the smoke continues to move through the region.
The Environmental Protection Agency said air quality has reached “hazardous” levels — its most severe classification — in areas stretching from northern Minnesota to Columbus, Ohio. Carney, speaking Thursday, emphasized the human toll in Canada, saying, “Thousands of Canadians’ lives have been upended, are being upended, by the wildfires across this country.” The smoke crisis now threatens to add another flashpoint to already tense U.S.-Canada relations, strained by Trump’s recurring comments about making Canada the 51st state and by ongoing trade friction between the two neighbors.
Trump’s Republican allies quickly rallied behind his call for tougher action against Canada. “Americans will not pay the price for the negligence of Canadian leaders,” Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno wrote on X. He pointed to what he called “four years in a row of record fires” and accused Canadian liberals of allowing “decades of environmental damage,” adding, “Further proof that you don’t have to be very smart to get elected as a liberal, you just have to be woke.”
