President Donald Trump is using wildfire smoke from Canada to threaten tariffs.
Trump blasted Canada in a post on Truth Social on Friday, accusing America's northern neighbor of mismanaging its forests and causing the current bout of wildfires that are sending waves of smoke into the US.
"The United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!" Trump wrote, adding, "The cost is incalculable!"
The president said it was becoming an annual occurrence and was costing the US billions, though it's unclear what that figure was based on. He said the cost of the pollution must be added to the tariffs Canada is already paying.
Wildfires across parts of central Canada have sent heavy smoke through the Midwest and Northeast this week, triggering high levels of air pollution, including in Washington, D.C.
Republican lawmakers have blamed Canada's forest management practices for the plumes and are pressuring the country to act.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, said he would introduce a bill next week to sanction Canada and its government officials, sharing a post about air pollution in Cleveland. Rep. Nick Langworthy from New York said he was reaching out to Canadian officials to encourage them to act.
"Canada must take meaningful action to prevent these catastrophic wildfires and protect both Canadians and Americans," he wrote on X. "If it refuses to do so, there should be consequences."
A group of four Republican representatives from Michigan sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this week calling on him to take action.
"We are done accepting apologies in place of action. If Canada will not manage its forests to prevent these fires, the United States will look elsewhere, and act on our own, to protect our people," the letter said.
Canada has over 800 active wildfires burning, with the vast majority labeled "out of control," according to government officials. American cities, including New York, Chicago, and Minneapolis, have been hit by the subsequent haze.
The pressure on Canada comes as its relationship with the US is already strained. The close allies have clashed over Trump's tariffs and his expressed wish to make the country the 51st US state.
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Kelsey is a senior reporter for Business Insider, where she covers business and tech news as well as stories about travel, luxury, and consulting.Her feature story "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as well as honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. It was also included on Longreads' and Pocket's best of 2022 lists. She has also received an American Journalism Online Award for her coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and other outlets to discuss her work. She previously worked on the world news desk at the BBC in London and received a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal @kelseyv.21.Popular storiesDisaster on Denali: Inside a 1,000-foot fall on America's highest peakThrifting is more popular than ever. It's also never been worse.Rolex wouldn't service the vintage watch my mom inherited. Watchmakers say it happens all the time.A tiny, invasive bug and the climate crisis are changing how guitars are made, and shifting the course of music historyThe tourism free-for-all is overGovernment-run boarding schools were founded to 'civilize' Native Americans. Hundreds of dead children remain buried in the schoolyard graves.Meet the Texas minister who helps fly dozens of women to New Mexico every month to get abortionsPeople are flocking to Colorado for the great outdoors, but the air pollution is so bad, it's forcing many to stay insideInside Kabul: An aid worker reveals the devastating chaos that erupted during the US exit from Afghanistan
