Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke drifting into US

US President Donald Trump has threatened Canada with additional tariffs, citing wildfire smoke that has drifted across large parts of the United States in recent days. In a primetime address on Friday, Trump said the smoke from Canadian forest fires was causing what he called an “incalculable” economic cost to the United States, and stated his intention to add this cost onto tariffs already imposed on Canadian goods. The announcement primarily affects the Canadian government under Prime Minister Mark Carney, but also American consumers and businesses tied to trade between the two countries. The threat is significant because it risks further straining an already tense trade relationship between the two North American neighbors, coming just as the United States prepared to host a major international sporting event.

The backdrop to the announcement is severe air pollution caused by hundreds of wildfires burning across Canada. According to multiple reports, smoke spread over large parts of the American Midwest and into the Northeast on Thursday and Friday. Authorities in more than a dozen US states — reports cite more than 17 states — urged residents to stay indoors due to deteriorating air quality. Detroit was, at one point, ranked the most polluted city in the world according to the air quality tracker IQAir. Millions of people across the US were reported to have been affected by the worsening conditions.

In his remarks, Trump accused Canada of “willful negligence” and said he planned to call Prime Minister Carney to ask about Ottawa’s plans for managing the fires. The available reports do not specify an exact figure for the proposed additional tariffs, nor a timeline for implementation. It also remains unclear what legal or trade-policy mechanism would be used to impose such measures.

Alongside Trump’s announcement, several reports indicated that Republican lawmakers in the US have also raised the possibility of sanctions against Canada and individual Canadian officials. The Guardian reported that Republicans are considering sanctioning Canadian government officials over the impact of the fires. At the same time, some reports noted that wildfires are also burning within the United States itself, and that the Trump administration has rolled back several climate-related protections — a point that has become part of the broader public debate over responsibility for worsening fire conditions.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded, according to the BBC, by stating that both the United States and Canada share equal responsibility in addressing climate change, which experts say is intensifying wildfire conditions across North America. This assessment aligns with broader scientific explanations linking rising temperatures and drought conditions to increased wildfire frequency and severity.

Coverage also noted that Trump has previously made unsubstantiated claims blaming political mismanagement by rival politicians for major wildfires. This characterization comes from a report by Al Jazeera and is not further substantiated with evidence in the available sources, and should therefore be understood as contextual framing rather than an established fact.

The tariff threat also emerged during a period of heightened public attention, as the United States prepared to host the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. Several outlets reported uncertainty over whether, and to what extent, the smoke might affect the match. Officials cited by Channel News Asia expected air quality to improve somewhat, but warned that shifting winds could bring renewed haze into the Northeast. The Independent reported that forecasts regarding the smoke’s potential impact on the final remained uncertain.

Several questions remain unresolved, including how Canada will respond to the threatened tariffs, whether the promised phone call between Trump and Carney will take place, and what concrete steps — on both the tariff and sanctions fronts — might ultimately be implemented. It is also unclear what broader consequences such measures could have for the already strained trade relationship between the two countries. Observers are likely to watch closely in the coming days to see whether the threat translates into a formal policy or economic action.