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The smoke does not stop at the border. Now it might come with a bill.

Donald Trump is threatening to hit Canada with new tariffs as direct punishment for wildfire smoke drifting into the United States. He is framing the pollution as a failure of Canadian forest management.

The argument is straightforward. The smoke has a real economic and health cost for American cities, and Canada should pay for it.

Right now, Canada is fighting more than 800 active fires. The fallout has pushed air quality in cities like New York and Washington D.C. into hazardous territory. Millions of Americans are under active air quality alerts.

It is a completely new pressure point in an already strained North American trade relationship.