Trump threatens Canada over wildfire smoke: ‘Maybe they should pay us some damages’

President Donald Trump said Sunday night he’s considering making Canada financially compensate the United States for economic damage caused by wildfire smoke that drifted from Canada into parts of the U.S. last week.While speaking to reporters after returning from the World Cup final, Trump said he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the match about the smoke that enveloped much of the Midwest and East Coast.“I told him you got to stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air, our air’s been poisoned,” he said. “I have a good relationship with Mark Carney, but, you know, we have got to stop the fires up there. If we can help them, we’ll help them, but maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs.” Beginning early last week, smoke haze from 3,500 fires in Canada, burning over more than 6 million acres, blanketed cities such as Detroit, New York City, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, and other major metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. More than 100 million people were issued air quality alerts as the sky turned shades of brown and red.The New York City skyline is seen through a cover of wildfire smoke, in Jersey City, N.J., Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy) Trump said on Friday, “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests and Brush therein.”“The cost is incalculable!” he said. “Canada has refused to engage in basic Forest Management and Debris Removal, knowing that such refusal will lead to exactly this result. 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.”“There is a practice in Canada that when a fire starts burning, they monitor critical assets,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said on Friday. “They let the fire burn as long as they feel like that fire is not going to risk those identified critical assets. As a consequence, they’re letting a lot burn.” Zeldin said his agency is working to “ensure at the highest levels of our government that there is direct engagement.”“You had businesses closing, in particular in Michigan, if you look at Detroit, they had to close everything, they had to close car plants and a lot of other things,” Trump also said. Four Republican state lawmakers in Michigan sent a letter to Carney asking his government to expand efforts to mitigate wildfires, saying, “This is the third consecutive year we have had to write to Canadian officials” about what they claim is a preventable crisis.DC AIR QUALITY REACHES SEVERELY POLLUTED LEVELS AS CANADIAN WILDFIRE SMOKE ROLLS INSen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) said last week he would “introduce a bill to sanction Canada and the responsible Canadian government officials for this atrocity.”The bill proposes requiring the president to determine within 30 days if the wildfires harmed U.S. air quality and if the Canadian government failed to take action “preventing, mitigating, or containing such events.” If such evidence is found, the bill requires the executive branch to impose sanctions against Canadian officials working in land management, fire prevention, and environmental protection.