Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Here’s how Saskatchewan’s top political leaders responded on Aug. 22 to the collapse of trade talks between Canada and the United States, verbatim from their respective X accounts. Whereas Premier Scott Moe focused on the trade war, NDP Leader Carla Beck focused on Moe.
Statement from Premier Scott Moe on U.S. Tariffs
As of today, the United States is violating the CUSMA trade deal.
The new 50 per cent US tariffs on some Canadian goods are a clear violation of CUSMA and a clear indication that the current US administration can not be trusted to live up to its own trade deals.
Over the past few days, the Canadian government, with the support of all Premiers, was working toward a deal that would have avoided those new tariffs and reduced some of the tariffs previously imposed by the United States.
Last minute changes by US negotiators undermined the fairness and reliability of the deal.
Saskatchewan has also been clear that any attempt by the United States to influence or place conditions on Canada’s trade relationships with other nations is a non-starter.
Decisions about who Canada trades with must be made by Canada.
Saskatchewan, more than any other province, is diversifying its trade to other countries, and that will not be compromised.
For those reasons, the Prime Minister made the right decision to not accept an unfair and unreliable deal, and we support the Prime Minister’s decision to enact dollar for dollar counter-tariffs on targeted US products.
Let’s be clear. This won’t be easy.
All tariffs hurt real businesses and kill real jobs, on both sides of the border.
They drive up the cost of living for families.
That’s why we should always be doing everything we can to avoid, reduce and remove tariffs.
I believe the federal government did that, but in the end, the US administration chose to stick with this failed economic policy, and Canada must respond accordingly.
Saskatchewan supports Canada’s response.
Premier Scott Moe
Here is my statement on U.S. tariffs and Canada’s response. pic.twitter.com/tr2D8ilBTq
— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) August 22, 2026
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And this is what NDP Leader Carla Beck posted on X on Aug. 22:
On Tuesday, Scott Moe celebrated and declared that a trade deal had been reached.
Now we know there is no trade deal, and Donald Trump will impose job-killing tariffs on our industries starting today.
This is the time to fight back — starting with immediately removing American alcohol from Saskatchewan shelves.
It was both a mistake and act of cowardice to re-shelve it in the first place as Scott Moe did last year.
But Scott Moe has refused to fight back — instead, he’s been the first and fastest to cave into Trump’s demands.
He was the first to demand that Canada not respond to Trump’s economic warfare.
And he was the first to fly to celebrate the biggest cheerleader of Trump’s tariffs, Lindsay Graham – one of the architects of the unfair tariffs that killed more than 100 jobs at the sawmill in Big River.
We need a plan to respond and defend our economy and workers. If Scott Moe had been working towards such a plan instead of celebrating, we would be in a stronger position.
Saskatchewan people have been standing up for Canada since this trade war began.
It’s long past time the Premier of Saskatchewan stood with them.
On Tuesday, Scott Moe celebrated and declared that a trade deal had been reached.
Now we know there is no trade deal, and Donald Trump will impose job-killing tariffs on our industries starting today.
This is the time to fight back — starting with immediately removing…
— Carla Beck (@CarlaBeckSK) August 22, 2026
- 0135 SASPO-2988_Self serve_2026_YouTube0135 SASPO-2988_Self serve_2026_YouTube
- 0121 Ministry of Energy and Resources April 20260121 Ministry of Energy and Resources April 2026
- 0134 SASPO-2956_ Safety 20260134 SASPO-2956_ Safety 2026
- 0133 LC Trucking hiring Class 1A Payden0133 LC Trucking hiring Class 1A Payden
- 0132 UMWA 20260132 UMWA 2026
- 0129 Turnbull drivers operators0129 Turnbull drivers operators
- 0128 OSY Rentals updated0128 OSY Rentals updated
- 0126 Steel_Reef_Promo_0126 Steel_Reef_Promo_
- 0118 IBEW 30 sec0118 IBEW 30 sec
- 0114 Prospera Bold Vision0114 Prospera Bold Vision
- 0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer0113 Miller Epic Cinematic Hollywood trailer
- 0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended0102 Lori Carr Coal Extended
- 0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p0099 Mryglod Steel 1080p
- 0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it0095 Fast Trucking nearly 70 years good at it
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
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