'Arsonist trying to collect on insurance policy': Markey slams Trump's Canada tariff threat over wildfires

President Donald Trump showed no sign of easing tensions with Canada after imposing a 50 percent tariff on goods ranging from dairy products to clothing. Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) wasn't having it, making clear what he thinks America's approach should be instead. "Trump putting a 50 percent tariff on Canada in response to the wildfire smoke is like an arsonist trying to collect on the insurance policy after the house burns down. Tariffs don't put out wildfires; firefighters do. If Canada is asking for our help, we should send it," he wrote on X.

Trump had previously threatened to slap Canada with tariffs over its alleged mismanagement of wildfires. However, it's not clear these tariffs are a direct response to that, given that the White House said they are in response to Canada's discriminatory treatment of American products such as dairy, alcoholic beverages, and automobiles. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney slammed the decision, calling it another violation of CUSMA, the trilateral trade pact between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

The 80-year-old senator, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, also sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin and Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Doug Burgum, urging the agencies to respond to any requests for immediate fire assistance and to develop a coordinated plan with Ottawa to manage the increasingly frequent and severe cross-border wildfire smoke events.

“Despite this ongoing emergency and a growing pattern of large-scale U.S.-Canada wildfire smoke events in recent years, there has been little public coordinated activity from the administration to combat this crisis and no indication that the federal government is working to improve its ability to address future cross-border wildfire smoke incidents. In fact, the central federal message so far has been President Trump’s announcement that he will add the cost of wildfire pollution to the tariffs that he wishes to assess on Canada," he said in the letter.

Markey also urged Zeldin and Burgum to examine the bilateral wildland fire management and air quality infrastructure between Canada and the United States, as a way to improve mutual assistance in an era of severe wildfires. This, he said, should include a formal update of the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement, which has served as an effective cooperative instrument in managing transboundary air pollution.

"Like the climate crisis, the wildfire crisis is a shared crisis. It does not respect national boundaries, and our response cannot stop at our border. We must have a federal government that

responds to crises effectively and quickly, invests in institutions that can match the evolving scale of climate change and its impacts, and works together with our neighbors – not against them– to ensure our mutual wellbeing," he concluded.