Trump blames Canada as US ‘invaded by filthy air’ from wildfires that could impact World Cup final | US News

US President Donald Trump has blamed Canada for wildfire smoke that could impact the World Cup final.

White House officials are meeting on Friday with FIFA president Gianni Infantino ahead of Sunday’s final to discuss the potential health dangers posed by wildfire smoke in the New York-New Jersey area.

Millions of Americans have faced hazardous conditions and orders to stay indoors, with firefighters battling 68 large blazes nationwide.

In Canada, some 835 wildfires were active on Thursday, mostly in the central provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario, with 112 of them burning out of control, according to the country’s government.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump wrote: “We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!

“I will call the Prime Minister during the day to find out what they are going to do about it. The cost is incalculable!”

“Canada has refused to engage in basic Forest Management and Debris Removal, knowing that such refusal will lead to exactly this result.

“This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”

Smoke was seen drifting from northwestern Ontario in Canada across parts of the northeastern US during the wildfires on Thursday, reducing air quality and darkening the skies.

Environment Canada gave Toronto an Air Quality Health Index reading of 10+, classified as “very high risk”, while Minnesota and New York residents were warned about unhealthy air conditions.

Following Mr Trump’s post on Truth Social, Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno wrote on X: “Americans will not pay the price for the negligence of Canadian leaders.

“Four years in a row of record fires that have produced decades of environmental damage.”

Ontario’s premier Doug Ford said that Canada had helped the US battle wildfires in California and combat hurricanes in North Carolina.

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He told reporters at a press conference on Thursday: “Maybe what you should do rather than complain is send support, send help, because we have done the exact same thing for our American friends.”

Andrew Giuliani, the head of the White House FIFA Task Force, told NBC News he will assess if any contingency plans are necessary in the next 24 hours ahead of the World Cup final.

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He said: “We’re hopeful. I just got off the phone actually with FIFA about it. I know we’re going to discuss it later this afternoon a little bit more, and then we’ll look at it into tomorrow.

“But we’re hopeful that it moves, that it continues to move, I guess, south, and that maybe a little bit of a rain would kind of tamp that down.”