Senators reject Trump’s call to make Canada pay for wildfire smoke: ‘Ridiculous’

Republican and Democratic senators are rejecting President Donald Trump’s call for Canada to pay damages to the U.S. over smoke from ongoing wildfires that he said have “poisoned” the air in many American cities.

“I think the president’s being ridiculous,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., told Fox News Digital.

“Nobody can control the direction of the wind,” Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said. “Even President Trump can’t do that.”

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Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., departs from the Senate Chambers following a cloture vote on the Kids Online Safety Act in the U.S. Capitol Building on July 25, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)

Trump floated the idea after complaining that smoke from nearly 900 Canadian wildfires has degraded air quality across large swaths of the U.S. He told reporters at Joint Base Andrews last week that he spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the FIFA World Cup final about the issue.

“I told them, I mean, ‘You got to stop these fires from coming in and, you know, poisoning our air,'” Trump told reporters about his exchange with Canadian officials.

He continued, “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.”

Trump also took to Truth Social in recent weeks claiming he threatened to increase tariffs in a phone call with Carney, as a response to the wildfires creating hazardous air quality in the U.S. — particularly in major cities like Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and New York City.

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President Donald Trump called for Canada to pay damages to the U.S. for wildfire smoke spreading into American cities, causing hazardous air quality levels. (Eric Lee/Getty Images; Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., called for better management of both Canadian and American forests, arguing America is also “guilty” of improperly handling forests to reduce the likelihood of wildfires spreading.

“I’m mostly just interested in active management of the forest, and America is just as guilty,” Marshall said.

“We have not actively managed our forests, and that’s why in Canada and America both have led to these large fires,” he continued. “We haven’t properly managed them.”

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While the senators Fox News Digital interviewed largely rejected Trump’s proposal, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is introducing legislation to hold Canada accountable for the impact its wildfires have had on U.S. air quality.

” I don’t think the Canadians want those fires any more than we do,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich said about the call to charge Canada.

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“Those are natural-caused fires, you know, we’re getting wildfires all over the world,” Welch said. “Beyond anyone’s control – it’s the weather.”

The raging wildfires are believed to have emerged from thousands of lightning strikes across North America in early July.