Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke

Open this photo in gallery:U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks the new Air Force One as he arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Friday.Evan Vucci/ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump is threatening new tariffs on Canada over wildfire smoke that, he said, has “invaded“ American cities in recent days, calling it “Willful Negligence” on the part of Canadian authorities.Mr. Trump, in a post to his Truth Social site on Friday, said the smoke has created an “incalculable” expense for the U.S., and the “cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”The U.S. President said he would call Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday to discuss the issue, and made no concrete proposal for what tariffs, if any, he could apply. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a ruling earlier this year, constrained Mr. Trump from summarily imposing tariffs on an emergency basis. “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!” Mr. Trump wrote.Earlier this week, a group of Michigan Republican leaders wrote Mr. Carney to complain about the smoke, faulting Canada for “chronic under-investment in forest thinning, fuel reduction, and prescribed burns, along with inadequate enforcement against arson.”The letter threatened “direct involvement” by U.S. agencies in “cross-border fuel reduction and firefighting capacity” – without explaining what that might mean. Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, had offered a more conciliatory tone in a statement Wednesday, noting that” Canadians living near these fires are already facing hazardous air quality” and pledging to continue a lengthy history of jointly fighting wildfire. “This challenge knows no borders,” Mr. Hoekstra said in the statement. “The United States will continue to coordinate closely with Canada, just as we have for more than four decades of shared wildfire emergencies.”