‘Nobody can control wind’: Senators rebuke Trump’s demand that Canada pay for wildfire smoke

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump has sparked bipartisan criticism over his demand that Canada pay for damages to the US caused by ongoing wildfire smoke.

Trump said that wildfires have poisoned the air of many American cities and Canada should pay for it by taxing Canada over the fire.

Senators call Trump’s wildfire threat to Canada ridiculous

Trump had floated the idea of taxing Canada over wildfire after complaining that smoke from nearly 900 Canadian wildfires has degraded air quality across large swaths of the US.

"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."

Last week, Trump told reporters 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."

America is guilty of mishandling forests

Sen Roger Marshall, R-Kan, said that America is also guilty of improperly managing forests and called for better management of both Canadian and American forests.

“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 both Canada and America both have led to these large fires," he continued. "We haven't properly managed them."

Bernie Moreno wants to hold Canada accountable for fire

While the majority of the senators ridiculed Trump’s demand, Senator Bernie Moreno is introducing legislation to hold Canada accountable for the impact its wildfires have had on US 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.

"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."

Recently, Trump on Truth Social claimed he threatened to increase tariffs in a phone call with Carney, as a response to the wildfires creating hazardous air quality in the US.