Trump fumes over Canadian wildfire smoke, issues tariff threat

US President Donald Trump on Friday pledged to hold Canada responsible for costs associated with unhealthy air quality in the US due to spreading smoke from the Canadian wildfires.

“The cost is incalculable!” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “This is Wilful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”

Trump has often used tariffs — which area paid by businesses and consumers — as a political cudgel in disputes with other countries.

In his post, Trump added that he would call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “to find out what they are going to do about it.”

“We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!” Trump wrote.

Carney on Thursday alluded to criticism of Canada’s response to the natural disaster, spotlighting the US’s own opposition to climate policies.

“Each of us has his own responsibility. At the moment, we’re emphasizing investment in clean energy, but in the U.S., there are modes of production which are working against clean energy,” he told reporters in French. “And Canada is pursuing their efforts on the world scale, whereas the United States are reducing their footprint worldwide.”

Since returning to office, Trump has suspended US support for dozens of international climate initiatives and research groups. In March, a group of universities sued the Trump administration for its efforts to dismantle the country’s largest federal climate research center. 
Air quality alerts remain for more than 100 million people on Friday as smoke from the wildfires in Minnesota and Canada continues to envelop major cities, including Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City.