President Donald Trump has revealed he confronted Canadian prime minister Mark Carney at Sunday’s World Cup Final over the smoke drifting into the U.S. from devastating wildfires, telling him: “Our air’s being poisoned.”
Trump recounted their frank exchange at Joint Base Andrews as he returned to Washington from the FIFA tournament’s finale, which he, Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum – representing the three host nations – had attended at the New York New Jersey Stadium.
“It went good, but I told him, you got to stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air,” the president said of his interaction with the Canadian.
“Our air has been poisoned. I have a good relationship with Mark Carney, but you know, we 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. But it was terrible. I mean, you had businesses closing.
“I’ve never remembered this happening. Over the last four or five years you saw it starting to take place. I never remembered it happening before.”
The wildfires began on July 6 when a summer thunderstorm caused more than 1,000 lightning strikes across Canada – and northeastern Minnesota – causing dry woodland to burst into flames and the resultant smoke to gradually float south and blanket the cities of the northeastern United States.
At least 68,956 acres of forest have been burned to date, with the fires continuing to rage, raising the prospect of further harmful air pollution moving south this week.
Trump threatened Canada with higher tariffs Friday after the smoke swamped New York City, making conditions difficult for citizens and imperilling the big game between Spain and Argentina until torrential rain on Saturday served to clear the air.
The smoke had been so severe in Detroit Thursday that workers at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant had to be sent by ambulance to nearby hospitals, according to The Detroit Free Press.
Responding on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “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.
“Canada has refused to engage in basic Forest Management and Debris Removal. 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.”
Trump was supported in his criticism of the northern neighbor, which he has proposed making the 51st state, by MAGA Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, who wrote on X: “Americans will not pay the price for the negligence of Canadian leaders.
“Four years in a row of record fires that have produced decades of environmental damage. Further proof that you don’t have to be very smart to get elected as a liberal, you just have to be woke.”
More diplomatically, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, Peter Hoekstra, said on the same platform: “I commend the outstanding cooperation between the United States and Canada as we confront these fires together.
“Our two governments are monitoring and sharing information in real time – coordination that reflects our partnership at its best.”
For his part, Carney appealed to the Trump administration last week to take the climate crisis more seriously.
“We need a contribution from the Americans in the fight against climate change,” he said at a Thursday press conference. “Climate change is everyone’s responsibility, including the U.S.”
As to Trump’s tariff threat, Canada was hit with 35 percent levies by Trump last year, only for the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in February that his signature trade strategy was imposed illegally to knock it back down to the standard 10 percent.
There were no tensions evident between the two heads of state at the World Cup decider, a bad-tempered game deservedly won 1-0 by Spain in extra-time.
Trump was joined by first lady Melania Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and helped FIFA President Gianni Infantino hand out the medals and trophy.
The Republican was booed as he took to the field and Argentina defender Cristian Romero refused to shake his hand on the podium as he collected his runner’s-up medal.
