United States mulls tariffs over Canadian wildfire smoke | JQJO

United States – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian imports to recoup what he described as the economic costs of wildfire smoke drifting south from Canada into the United States. Posting on Truth Social, Trump called the situation “Willful Negligence” and said the “cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the tariffs Canada is currently paying,” accusing Canada of failing to properly maintain its forests and to carry out basic forest management and debris removal. His comments came as dense smoke from 937 active Canadian wildfires, most of them burning out of control, along with fires in northern Minnesota, triggered unhealthy air quality alerts across large parts of the country, affecting more than 100 million people with warnings that ranged from limiting outdoor exercise to staying indoors.

Canada – Canada’s emergency management minister Eleanor Olszewski responded that Ottawa and Washington were in constant contact and pointed to what she described as a long history of cross-border cooperation in fighting wildfires. She said Canada has invested $12 billion in forest sustainability and fire prevention since 2020, even as smoke pushed air quality readings into the hazardous range in parts of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, forcing the closure of parks and beaches along Lake Michigan. Detroit recorded the world’s worst air quality on Friday, with Chicago ranked second, while New York and Washington also reported unhealthy conditions that prompted officials to distribute masks and advise residents to avoid unnecessary time outdoors as authorities warned that smoke could thicken again overnight.