Trump threatens Canada with tariffs over wildfire smoke choking US cities
Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke choking US cities.
“We hold Canada responsible for their failure to properly maintain their forests and bushlands,” the president wrote on Truth Social Friday.
Trump added that the United States is “invaded by polluted, polluted and unhealthy air that is dangerous and completely unacceptable.”
He claimed ‘the cost was incalculable’ and promised to call Prime Minister Mark Carney to demand answers.
“This is willful negligence and has become an annual occurrence, costing the United States billions of dollars; the cost of this pollution must necessarily be added to the tariffs Canada currently pays,” Trump said.
Fires burning in the Canadian province of Ontario have caused massive plumes of smoke to blanket much of the eastern United States.
These plumes reached major US cities such as Washington, D.C. and New York City on Thursday evening.
The president likely experienced the smoky conditions in the capital on his way to New York for a business dinner Friday evening.
Writing on Truth Social Friday, the President threatened to impose more taxes on Canada for the smoke and pollution affecting U.S. cities from the fire in Ontario, saying, “We hold Canada responsible for not properly maintaining their forests and shrubs.”
Thick smoke blanketed major cities on the East Coast, including Washington, D.C.
The fumes also choked residents of New York City, where thick smoke blankets were visible.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC saw major drops in air quality due to acrid white smoke coming from the northern border.
The National Weather Service has issued air quality advisories in at least 16 states.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), weather from northern Minnesota to Columbus, Ohio is now considered ‘hazardous’; This is the agency’s most severe air quality rating.
‘The lives of thousands of Canadians have been and are being disrupted by the wildfires in this country,’ Carney said Thursday.
The smog threatens to further derail relations between the United States and Canada, already under pressure from Trump’s repeated threats to turn its northern neighbor into his 51st state and uneasy trade relations hobbled by the President’s tariff regime.
During his second term, Trump repeatedly tried to put pressure on Canada by imposing tariffs.
Last year the Republican imposed a 25 percent tariff on most imports from Canada, later increasing that figure to 35 percent.
Although after the Supreme Court struck a blow at the President’s authority to enact tariffs, the fees were mostly rolled back and Canada now pays roughly 10 percent of most goods imported into the United States.
In some parts of New York City, the smoke is so thick that a visible fog can be seen over the city.
The sun looks through haze from wildfire smoke over the Chicago skyline and the Chicago River on July 16
A train crew escaped safely after a fire engulfed their locomotive near Armstrong in Canada’s Northern Ontario, where widespread wildfires continue to disrupt transportation and force evacuations.
Trump’s Republican supporters were quick to back the President’s push for additional tariffs because of the fires.
“Americans will not pay the price for Canadian leaders’ negligence,” Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno wrote to X.
‘There have been record fires for four consecutive years, causing decades of environmental damage. Further proof that you don’t have to be very smart to be elected as a liberal, you just have to wake up.’
Many people below the smoke cloud reported a smell of burning plastic in the air, which atmospheric scientist Matthew Cappucci said was caused by longer-lived compounds such as benzene and formaldehyde that remain after the smoke ages during its journey.
Both benzene and formaldehyde are classified as Group 1 human carcinogens; This means that there is sufficient evidence that they can cause cancer in humans.
‘Smoke is not only annoying, it’s also legally dangerous. It consists of microscopic particles known as PM2.5, or tiny particles less than 2.5 micrometers wide. That’s about 30 times thinner than a human hair,” Cappucci shared on X.
‘It is bad to breathe them; increases [the] risk of heart attack, respiratory problems, etc. You may also notice that your eyes sting.’
The smog has become so thick that major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C. and New York City were among the world’s most polluted cities on Friday.
While Michigan has been the hardest hit by smoke so far, the entire state is experiencing the worst air quality since modern records began in the early 2000s, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
