Ford lowers temperature in CNN appearance after heated exchange with Trump

Open this photo in gallery:Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to media at a housing development in Hamilton, on Monday.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian PressOntario Premier Doug Ford, appearing on CNN’s The Situation Room with host Wolf Blitzer Tuesday morning, struck a conciliatory tone a day after he and U.S. President Donald Trump exchanged a series of public, and personal, insults amid the escalating Canada-U.S. trade war.In a segment that began with tape of Mr. Ford’s Monday outburst on a Toronto talk radio station, when he said Mr. Trump could “kiss my ass,” the Ontario Premier acknowledged that it would be wiser to lower the temperature.“Things got a little heated, it got a little personal yesterday between the President and myself,” Mr. Ford said, speaking to Mr. Blitzer remotely, from Queen’s Park, against a backdrop of Canadian flags. “But I want to make a deal, a good deal for the American people, a good deal for the Canadians.”Ottawa announces retaliatory tariffs on $27.6-billion of U.S. productsEarlier Tuesday, Mr. Trump had added more of his own fuel to the fire. In a post on social media, Mr. Trump said he was “giving serious consideration” to changing the name of Lake Ontario, because the United States doesn’t “expect to doing [sic] much business with Ontario any longer.” He followed with a post showing a map with the body of water renamed “Lake America.”Asked about these latest comments, Mr. Ford dismissed the post as “a lot of rhetoric,” saying that Ontario is the No.1 customer for 17 U.S. states, and No. 2 to another 12. He also said an estimated nine million Americans are employed producing goods bound just for Ontario. And he defended Canada’s actions in the face of U.S. tariffs.“We’re stronger believers in being a sovereign country and when President Trump wants to attack our sovereignty and attack, you know, our people and business in Ontario, I can’t roll over,” Mr. Ford said.Speaking to reporters in Hamilton a day earlier, Mr. Ford said that all options for Canadian retaliation were on the table, mentioning that he could cut off or surcharge electricity supplies – as he did for just 24 hours last year, before attracting Mr. Trump’s ire – or restrict critical minerals exports. He even suggested using oil as a bargaining chip, an option rejected once again by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.Trump considers renaming Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ as trade war escalatesIn remarks peppered with assertions that he and other Canadians love the American people, Mr. Ford did allude to Canada’s supplies of potash, oil and uranium and said Canadian electricity keeps the lights on in 1.5 million American homes. “What I was saying, you know, Wolf, is that everything is on the table right now, but would I rather send more electricity to power your plants and power your data centres and power other areas and homes, that you don’t have?” Mr. Ford said. “We have the electricity that the U.S. needs, and I am more than happy to send them more if we get a fair deal.”Mr. Ford was set to make a series of other appearance on U.S. outlets on Tuesday.