Ontario Premier Doug Ford called President Donald Trump‘s criticism of Canada’s wildfire response “absolutely unacceptable” on Saturday, as smoke from spreading forest fires continued choking a broad swath of the eastern United States.
“We’re trying to get through this,” Ford said during a press briefing, adding that if the situation were reversed, Canada would support the U.S. Ford said 655,000 hectares (1.6 million acres) are burning across Ontario, with “no limit” on provincial spending to protect residents.
On Friday, Trump called the smoke crisis “totally unacceptable” in a Truth Social post, saying the U.S. was being “invaded by filthy, polluted” air and that wildfire-related costs should factor into existing Canadian tariffs.
Ford Says Dropping Lumber Tariffs Would Ease Crisis
Ford also pushed back, urging Trump to drop U.S. tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber instead. Tariff-free exports, he said, “would resolve a lot of the issues we face right now.”
