'They should pay us': Trump threatens Canada PM with tariffs over 'poisoned air' affecting US cities
Donald Trump US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about wildfire smoke drifting into the United
Donald Trump US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about wildfire smoke drifting into the United States, urging theto take stronger action to contain the fires and warning that tariffs could follow if the problem persists.Speaking to reporters, Trump said, "I told them. I mean, you got to stop these fires from coming in and you know poisoning our air. Our air has been poisoned.""Have a good relationship with Mark Carney, but you know we got to stop the fires up there. If we can help them, we'll help them.
But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs," he added.Trump's remarks come days after he threatened additional tariffs on Canada, accusing Ottawa of failing to manage its forests and allowing wildfire smoke to blanket parts of the United States with what he described as "filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air."In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said Canada was responsible for the deteriorating air quality in several US cities."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!" he wrote.He further accused Canada of "willful negligence" in forest management and debris removal, claiming the recurring wildfire smoke had caused billions of dollars in damage to the United States."The cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the tariffs Canada is currently paying," Trump said.His comments came as smoke from hundreds of active wildfires in Canada spread across the border, prompting air quality alerts in several US states.The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre said 888 wildfires were burning across the country on Friday, with most of them classified as out of control.More than 190 of those fires were in Ontario.
The wildfire smoke has affected air quality across parts of the United States, including Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. According to IQAir, Detroit recorded the world's worst air quality on Friday, followed by Chicago, Washington
DC and New York.Earlier, Prime Minister Mark Carney said both Canada and the United States share responsibility for tackling climate change, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Washington to provide additional firefighting assistance instead of criticising Canada's response.
The BriefWire