Trump jokes about lettuce outbreak and tariffs in Oval Office
While taking questions in the Oval Office, President Trump joked about the explosive diarrhea outbreak and tariffs on Mexico.
President Donald Trump joked Friday, July 24, that he may need to impose tariffs on Mexico for “the lettuce” and Canada for “the smoke,” referencing two issues that have recently affected millions of Americans: a growing foodborne illness outbreak and wildfire smoke drifting south from Canada.
The remarks came during an Oval Office press conference after Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked when it would be “safe to eat lettuce again.”
“I think we’ll put a major tariff on Mexico because of the lettuce. And we’ll put a big tariff on Canada because of the smoke,” Trump said.
The president’s comments come as a time when federal health officials are investigating a cyclosporiasis outbreak that has sickened thousands of people nationwide, while smoke from Canadian wildfires has repeatedly triggered air quality alerts across parts of the United States.
“I’ve told Canada, they have to do something about it. We’ve never had this problem. All of a sudden we have this problem with Canada,” Trump added.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires has periodically affected air quality across the U.S. in recent years. In 2023, about 75 million people across the Midwest, Northeast and Southeast were under air quality alerts as more than 9 million acres of Canadian forest burned.
Bad lettuce and wildfire smoke
A CDC outbreak update released Friday, July 24, reported 4,173 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease since May 1. The CDC said that an additional 7,400 cases, many in Michigan and Ohio, have not yet been confirmed.
The number of states reporting cases grew to 41 in this latest CDC update, but those cases may not all be part of ongoing outbreaks.
USA TODAY research suggests cases of cyclosporiasis, the infection caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora and known to cause severe diarrhea, have been reported in all but four states.
Apart from the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak, wildfire smoke from Canadian wildfires has left skies in some parts of the United States blackened and under an orange blaze.
Smoke from out-of-control wildfires created horrible air pollution in Toronto, which on July 15, had the worst pollution in the world. In the United States, New York City ranked fifth worst, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.
USA TODAY’s Mike Snider, Karina Zaiets, Yoonserk Pyun and Janet Loehrke contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
