Ontario Premier Doug Ford admits ‘it got a little heated’ with President Donald Trump

After calling President Donald Trump a “loser” and the “king of bankruptcies” who could “kiss my ass,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford is embarking on a tour of United States news networks, striking a more conciliatory tone.

“Things got a little heated, it got a little personal yesterday,” Premier Doug Ford told CNN on Tuesday morning, agreeing with Wolf Blitzer that it was time to lower the temperature.

“I want to make a deal. A good deal for the American people, a good deal for the Canadians. We’re the two greatest countries in the world, we’re each other’s number one customer and it’s time to get back to the table.”

The more measured tone came the day after Trump described Ford as “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford” in a post on Truth Social.

During a 45-minute news conference, the Ontario premier repeatedly hit back.

“I don’t respond to a dictator like President Trump, a bully like President Trump,” Ford told reporters. “I’m not going to take any advice off a guy that’s the king of bankruptcies.”

Later, he concluded: “Let’s be clear, I don’t like the guy — simple.”

Then, on Tuesday morning, Trump posted online again, this time musing about renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America as relations between the president and Canada’s most populous province deteriorated.

The change would be similar to the Republican president’s executive order last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The Great Lakes — Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior — are a chain of five freshwater lakes that hold roughly one-fifth of the world’s surface fresh water. Lake Ontario, which the province is named after, shares a border with the U.S. states of New York and Pennsylvania.

Michigan is the only Great Lake that doesn’t border Canada.

Ford, however, didn’t bite back in his interview with CNN.

“I think it’s a lot of rhetoric,” he told Blitzer. “When President Trump wants to attack our sovereignty and attack our businesses and people in Ontario, I can’t roll over. My job is to protect Ontario and Canada.”

The premier was at Queen’s Park on Tuesday to record various United States news segments, but didn’t stop to speak to Ontario reporters.

As the premier walked from one room to another at the Ontario legislature, he batted away the idea that his rhetoric had gone too far on Monday.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Not at all.”

Ford is also scheduled to appear on ABC News, CBS and Bloomberg Washington throughout the day.

The United States and Canada are locked in a trade dispute after Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade talks last Friday, accusing the U.S. of trying to introduce last-minute demands that would limit Canada’s ability to make trade deals with other countries and protect its culture and sovereignty.

The U.S. introduced a new round of 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports on Saturday, targeting goods worth $28 billion. Canada announced retaliatory measures Tuesday that will go into effect Sept. 8.

— with files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea