Speaking with reporters, standing outside of Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, hot on the heels of his embarrassing appearance at the World Cup final in New Jersey, Donald Trump openly threatened to make Canada "pay" for "poisoning" American citizens with smoke from their raging wildfires.
A reporter asked the President if he had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney about the ongoing wildfire smoke issue, following similar threats to hold the country "responsible" for the acrid haze over almost half of the US on Friday. Trump confirmed that he had a "good" conversation with his fellow world leader, but was quick to add that the Canadians are still not doing enough to satisfy him.
"It went good, but I told him, I mean you gotta stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air. Our air’s been poisoned," Trump told the reporter. "I have a good relationship with Mark Carney, but you know, we gotta 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?" he continued. "But it was terrible. I mean, you had businesses closing — in particular, Michigan. If you look at Detroit, Michigan, they had to close everything. They had to close car plants and a lot of other things."
Trump was referencing reports that broke last week, namely from The Detroit Free Press, revealing that Ford's Michigan assembly plant was heavily affected by the "thick, hazy smoke," pushing temperatures inside the plant into the triple digits and leaving dozens of workers seeking medical attention.
"I’ve never remembered this happening," the President went on to ramble. "Over the last 4-5 years it started to take place. I never remember it happening before."
Canada is currently fighting against upwards of 850 wildfires, the consequences of which have led to serious issues across more than 20 states along the East Coast and Midwest America.
