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Facing President Donald Trump's latest threat of a 50% tariff on most Canadian goods, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is arguing Canada's negotiators need to stop reacting to Washington's rhetoric and start focusing on getting a renewed trade deal signed. 

"The goal isn't to win some sort of a war on social media or war of words on social media," he said. "The goal here is actually for us to have that renewed, reviewed CUSMA agreement moving forward."

On Tuesday's Rebel Roundup livestream, Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle broke down his comments, along with some pointed questions about who Ottawa actually trusts to get that deal done.

Moe said the path forward runs through Ambassador Kirsten Hillman's team, led by Dominic LeBlanc, and urged them to "engage ambitiously and vigorously" with the U.S. administration. He argued both countries need a renewed agreement, pointing to tariffs that are hurting affordability and small businesses on both sides of the border. Moe also highlighted Saskatchewan's growing uranium sector, with two mines already operating and three more working through approvals, as proof Canada can offer real energy security to its allies.

Sheila agreed with Moe's read on Trump. "Trump is a showman," she said. "He's the reality TV president... He says things, and it might hurt your feelings. Suck it up. Get a trade deal done."

Lise pushed back on one part of Moe's argument — that social media is the only problem. "It's the actual media, for sure, that complicates these things," she said, pointing to how Doug Ford gets to say "whatever he wants" at press conferences without pushback from Canada's "complicit and obedient" mainstream outlets.

The hosts then turned to Ottawa's Prime Minister's Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, questioning why figures like Arlene Dickinson, Jean Charest, Rachel Notley and Brian Topp are advising the federal government on the U.S. file.

"No wonder this thing has gotten as bad as it is," Sheila said, calling the group "a bunch of NDP looney tunes."

Both agreed that Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner and Moe himself would be better fits. 

"This is his wheelhouse," Lise said of Moe. "He loves talking about the economy... It's the thing he's most familiar with and most confident speaking about."