President Donald Trump on Friday pointed the finger at Canada for the thick wildfire smoke drifting across the United States, threatening to pile the “incalculable cost” of dealing with the dirty air on top of the tariffs already imposed on Canadian goods.
Smoke from hundreds of active fires burning across Canada blanketed a wide stretch of the country — from the Midwest all the way to the Northeast — on Thursday and Friday, with officials urging people to stay inside due to the hazardous air quality.
Trump, who has had a tense relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said he planned to call the prime minister to demand answers about what Canada intended to do about what he called a “totally unacceptable” situation.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests … and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air.”
He continued: “This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”
Canada’s minister of emergency management and community resilience, Eleanor Olszewski, responded by noting the country has put C$12 billion (roughly $8.56 billion) toward forest sustainability and fire prevention since 2020, as Canada faces increasingly dry and warm conditions. She also highlighted the long-standing cooperation between the U.S. and Canada in battling wildfires across both countries.
“At this time, our first priority is protecting Canadians and keeping communities safe,” Olszewski said in a statement.
Climate scientists say warming temperatures are drying out forests and fueling more frequent wildfires across Canada, which is home to some of the world’s largest stretches of forested land.
“As our climate warms, we’re seeing … more extreme weather, and we’re going to see more fire,” said Mike Flannigan, a wildland fire professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.
Trump imposed tariffs on major Canadian imports shortly after taking office in 2025. Carney’s office had not responded to requests for comment on Trump’s latest remarks. On Thursday, Carney said the United States could be doing more to address climate change, which he argued is driving longer droughts and rising temperatures worldwide.
The two leaders are expected to cross paths at the FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday.
Much of this year’s fire activity is concentrated in the vast province of Ontario, particularly in its remote, sparsely populated northwest — a region accessible only by air. So far in 2026, roughly 650,000 acres (about 2,630 square kilometers) have burned, up from 600,000 acres at the same point last year. Thousands of residents have been forced to leave their homes.
One of the communities destroyed was the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation — also called Collins First Nation — in northwestern Ontario. Residents were forced to flee by boat and take shelter in Thunder Bay, according to Matthew Hoppe, the community’s incident commander.
“There was nothing remaining. So as you can imagine, the membership is totally distraught, upset, overwhelmed, lost,” Hoppe told Reuters.
Thunder Bay, a city of roughly 110,000 people situated on the northern shore of Lake Superior, more than 1,300 kilometers (about 800 miles) northwest of Toronto, is now at full capacity as it takes in wildfire evacuees from across the region, Mayor Ken Boshcoff said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced Friday that the province would purchase 11 new aircraft to help fight the fast-moving fires, while also pushing back against criticism from U.S. politicians who have called the response insufficient.
The United States is also dealing with an above-average fire year. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 3.7 million acres have burned across the country so far in 2026, compared to a 10-year average of 2.7 million acres.
