US President Donald Trump has criticized Canada’s management of raging forest fires, particularly in northern Ontario, even threatening to impose new customs duties on its northern neighbors in connection with this issue.
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“We hold Canada responsible for not taking care of their forests […] and that the United States is overrun with polluted, dirty, unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous and completely unacceptable. I will call the Prime Minister during the day to see what they are doing on this issue,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“This negligence is repeated annually,” he added. It costs the United States billions of dollars. The cost of this pollution must necessarily be added to the TARIFFS that Canada pays. »
Screenshot | Truth Social
Republican elected officials from Michigan had also sent a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister in recent days concerning the smoke from forest fires.
Asked about this during a press briefing on Thursday, Mark Carney indicated that the issue of climate change was “the responsibility of everyone, including the United States”.
“Canada maintains our efforts on a global scale. And the United States is reducing its efforts,” he added.
People sit near the Brooklyn Bridge as wildfire smoke from Canada causes a haze of smoke, July 16, 2026 in New York. Out-of-control wildfires raged Thursday in the Canadian province of Ontario, prompting evacuations and sending clouds of dangerous smoke toward the United States, where millions of people were exposed to unhealthy air.
AFP
The message published by the American president contrasts with a press release published Wednesday by the American ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra, who praised the efforts made by Canada to fight the fires.
“I applaud the superb cooperation between the United States and Canada as we fight these fires together,” he wrote.
“This is a shared challenge that requires a shared response,” he added. This issue has no borders. The United States will continue to coordinate closely with Canada, as we have for more than four decades of shared wildfire emergencies. »
Haze from Canadian wildfires covers the Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building, as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park on July 17, 2026 in New York. New York City is under an air quality health advisory as smoke from wildfires in Canada and the Great Lakes region gradually spreads across the region, creating a thick haze in the heat.
Getty Images via AFP
This shared responsibility was also highlighted by many in January 2025 when the Canadian government deployed additional personnel and aircraft to help fight the fires in California.
Air quality is heavily affected in the northeastern United States on Thursday, particularly in New York, by smoke from wildfires raging in northern Ontario.
In total, some 190 fires are active in the province, of which approximately 90 are considered out of control.
Nationwide, nearly 900 wildfires are active, more than 200 of which are out of control.
