Donald Trump has posted an AI-generated image of a giant air filter along the US-Canada border, taunting Canada with a slogan that reads 'Clean Air. Clear Borders' — the latest twist in a trade dispute that has already seen 50 percent tariffs imposed on Canadian products.
The image, shared on his Truth Social platform, shows a massive pleated air filter reminiscent of the unfinished border wall with Mexico, with a sign calling it the 'North America Air Filter Barrier'. In an apparent AI error, the picture depicts bright blue skies and puffy white clouds on both sides.
“Trump posts AI image of border air filter to troll Canada amid tariff dispute over wildfire smoke.”
It follows Trump's repeated threats to impose tariffs over Canadian wildfire smoke that drifted into the US earlier this month, causing unhealthy air in cities including Detroit, New York and Washington, D.C. On Friday, he told reporters in the Oval Office, 'We're going to put a big tariff on Canada because of the smoke,' according to the CBC/Radio-Canada.
The US Supreme Court in February overruled earlier tariffs that Trump imposed on Canada. But on Monday, he imposed 50 percent tariffs on a range of Canadian products over what he called Canada's 'discrimination' against US commerce.
Canadians have responded with a 'Buy Canadian' boycott that resulted in a 21.5 percent drop in vacation travel to the US last year, Canada's Global News website reported Wednesday. Canadian provinces also barred government-run liquor stores from selling American spirits, causing a nearly 70 percent plunge in US exports of Kentucky bourbon and other booze to what was once American distillers' second-largest market, Fox News reported in March.
A spokesperson for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney didn't immediately return an inquiry from The Independent.
Trump has been picking fights with Canada since shortly after winning a second term in 2024, suggesting the US would annex the country and turn it into the 51st state. He mockingly referred to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the 'Governor of the Great State of Canada' and has likewise called Carney the 'future Governor of Canada'.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 79 percent of Canadians have no confidence in Trump’s leadership, despite a recent Gallup survey that showed 80 percent of Americans held a positive view of Canada.