An environmental group co-founded by former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault is cheering U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs on Canadian goods, falsely portraying them as a carbon tax imposed over Canadian wildfires.

Équiterre celebrated the trade penalties in a Facebook post, claiming Trump had imposed new tariffs on Canada because its forests were burning and suggesting the duties amounted to a carbon tax.

But that is not why Trump imposed the new tariffs.

The White House announced additional 50% duties on a range of Canadian products in response to what the administration described as Canada’s discriminatory treatment of American exports. The measures target goods connected to the alcohol, dairy and automotive sectors and are scheduled to take effect on August 19.

 Wildfires and smoke are not cited as the legal or economic justification for the tariffs.

Trump has separately complained about smoke from Canadian wildfires drifting into the U.S., but those comments are distinct from the formal tariff proclamations.

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That means Équiterre is not merely defending a tariff supposedly intended to punish Canada for wildfire emissions. The organization is applauding an entirely new layer of trade penalties against Canadian workers, exporters and industries, then attempting to sell the economic punishment as environmental policy.

Équiterre wrote that Canada was effectively being forced to pay a carbon tax at the border. In reality, the tariffs were imposed as retaliation in an escalating trade dispute involving Canadian measures against U.S. alcohol, dairy products and vehicles.

The organization’s response reveals how far some environmental activists are willing to go in pursuit of carbon pricing. Even tariffs imposed by a foreign government against Canadian businesses can be celebrated, provided they can be repackaged as a tax on emissions.

Guilbeault helped found Équiterre in 1993 and spent years as one of its leading activists before entering federal politics. Although he is no longer responsible for its operations, the group remains closely associated with the aggressive climate policies Guilbeault has promoted throughout his political career.