U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed Canada for the thick smoke from massive wildfires that has blanketed parts of American territory, threatening to add U.S. costs for dealing with the air pollution to existing tariffs on Canadian goods, according to infohub.kz.
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada has spread from the Midwest to the Northeast in recent days. Several states have urged residents to stay indoors due to hazardous air quality.
Trump said he plans to contact Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and demand answers. "We hold Canada responsible for failing to properly manage its forests. The United States is unnecessarily suffering from dirty, polluted, and harmful air," Trump wrote on Truth Social. He called the situation an "annual occurrence" costing the U.S. billions of dollars, describing it as "willful negligence" and saying those costs should be added to existing tariffs on Canadian imports.
Canadian authorities rejected the accusations. Emergency Preparedness Minister Eleanor Olszewski said the country has spent 12 billion Canadian dollars since 2020 on forest preservation and fire prevention. She also highlighted years of cooperation between Canada and the U.S. in fighting wildfires. Climate scientists link the rise in large wildfires to climate change, with higher temperatures and prolonged droughts making forests more fire-prone.
The most severe situation is in Ontario province, where about 2,630 square kilometers of forest have burned since the start of the season, forcing thousands to evacuate. One fire nearly destroyed the entire Indigenous community of Namaygoosisagagun (Collins First Nation). Rescue operation chief Matthew Hoppe said "almost nothing is left" of the settlement. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the region will purchase 11 new aircraft to combat fast-spreading fires.
The United States itself is also facing a difficult wildfire season. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, about 3.7 million acres have burned nationwide since the start of 2026, well above the 10-year average.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that extreme heat in Kazakhstan sparked 43 wildfires in just one week, with the largest – in the Semey Ormany reserve – contained after lightning was cited as the likely cause.