U.S. President Donald Trump says he has communicated to Prime Minister Mark Carney the necessity for Canada to intensify its efforts in managing the Ontario wildfires that have led to smoke and air quality issues in several states.
Trump told reporters he spoke to Carney during the FIFA World Cup final that they both attended on July 19, the day after the American president threatened to impose additional tariffs on Canadian goods in response to the wildfire smoke.
“I told him, ‘you’ve got to stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air,’” Trump said during a press scrum after returning from the World Cup game in New Jersey. “Our air has been poisoned.”
Trump said he has a “good relationship” with Carney, but said Ottawa needs to do more to get the fires under control after businesses and public venues in Detroit, Mich., temporarily closed or cancelled outdoor activities due to the poor air quality.
“If we can help them, we'll help them,” Trump added, referring to Canada. “But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs.”
Dense smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Ontario’s far north blanketed a large area of the United States, stretching from the Midwest to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic late last week, leading to several days of health advisories urging U.S. residents to remain indoors.
“More than 5,300 firefighting personnel have been deployed across the country,” Carney said in the July 18 post. “Nearly 300 aircraft are in the field — from waterbombers and helicopters to evacuation aircraft. We are leveraging data, drones, new technology, and advanced thermal imaging to support real-time detection and mitigation efforts.”
Nearly 200 wildfires are currently burning across Northern Ontario and 57 were labelled as out of control as of July 20.
Tariff Threat
Trump first floated the idea of a wildfire tariff last week on his Truth Social platform, saying that that the United States was “holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their forests,” resulting in out of control wildfires.Trump said the “yearly occurrence” of wildfire smoke from Canada had cost the United States billions of dollars, and the “cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the tariffs Canada is currently paying.”
Several Republican lawmakers have also criticized Canada in recent days, including four Michigan House of Representatives members, who penned a letter to Carney, accusing Ottawa of neglecting proper forest maintenance resulting in out of control fires for three years running.
Canada has not been affected by any of the U.S. wildfire smoke so far this year, but it has in the past.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford referenced that during a press conference last week, noting that Canada aided California during its 2025 and 2020 wildfires, the latter of which sent smoke billowing north of the border.
