Smoke from massive wildfires in Canada envelops the New York City skyline, reducing visibility and casting an orange haze over the city, on July 16, 2026.
Selçuk Acar | Anadolu | fake images
President Donald Trump on Friday criticized Canada over wildfires engulfing swaths of the United States in a haze of smoke and said he would add the costs of that pollution to existing tariffs.
Calling the situation “totally unacceptable,” Trump accused Ottawa of failing to address what he said were the causes of the fires in Canada, whose smoke has raised air quality to dangerous levels in major U.S. cities in recent days.
The billions of dollars in costs inflicted on the United States as a result of air pollution “must necessarily be added to the TARIFFS Canada currently pays,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“We hold Canada responsible for the fact that they are not adequately maintaining their forests and the brush they contain, and that the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by dirty, polluted and unhealthy air,” Trump wrote.
He said he plans to call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney later Friday “to find out what they're going to do about it.”
Carney, in a post on X on Wednesday, said wildfires have “escalated significantly” in recent weeks, particularly in northwestern Ontario, where thousands of people have been forced to evacuate.
The poor conditions have raised questions about possible impacts on the FIFA World Cup final, which will take place Sunday in northeastern New Jersey. Trump, who will attend the game between Spain and Argentina, traveled to New York City on Friday to attend a FIFA reception at Trump Tower.
Scientists have warned that human-influenced climate change is causing more wildfires and other extreme weather events.
Shortly after Trump posted about Canada in Truth Social, The New York Times reported that in recent months the Trump administration has moved to dismantle government laboratories that research wildfire smoke and its effects.
Lee Zeldin, director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Friday that “the impacts of the Canadian wildfires are causing great concern and damage across the United States.”
The EPA is in communication with Canada's leaders and will “strongly encourage them to do everything in their power to extinguish these fires as quickly as possible,” Zeldin wrote in a post on X.
The post also directed Americans to visit AirNow's fire and smoke map for the latest information.
