US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened a tariff increase on Canada to cover the cost of smoke pollution from wildfires that have choked large parts of the US. Dense wildfire smoke billowing down from Canada and northern Minnesota has set off unhealthy air quality alerts across the US.As of yesterday, there were 937 active fires in Canada, most of which were burning out of control, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. “This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “[The] cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”
The US Capitol, Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are pictured through haze caused by wildfire smoke from Canada from the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday.
Canada was “not properly maintaining” their forests, failing to carry out “basic Forest Management and Debris Removal,” he said, adding that he would call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “to find out what they are going to do about” the smoke.Canadian Minister of Emergency Management and Community Resilience Eleanor Olszewski said Canada and the US were in “constant contact,” pointing toward their “long history of working together to fight wildfires.”
