Alaskans will side with Canada in Trump's idiotic trade war
Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich the Third have had nothing to say about Donald Trump’s latest ill-conceived attack on our Canadian neighbors.
The two candidates should be calling on Trump to stop destroying the relationship with our nation’s most important ally.
Because of our location, no state has a more important reason to maintain good relations with Canada than Alaska. You think Trump ever gets that message from Sullivan and Begich?
They might as well be Natalie Harp for all of their ability to speak truth to the president.
They have not challenged the “51st state” insults or taken notice that Trump’s reckless behavior is creating the risk of a full-scale trade war. This latest attack reflects the same sort of Trump expertise on display with the shooting war in Iran.
That Sullivan and Begich are unable to come out of hiding on this is no surprise. They can’t even match Sen. Susan Collins, who called on Trump to “consider the negative impact” of an expanded trade war.
Against all the evidence, Begich claimed last year that Trump’s tariffs are good for Alaska. And Sullivan echoed Trump’s lies about smuggling fentanyl as a justification for tariffs—almost no fentanyl reaches the U.S. from Canada.
By their silence, Sullivan and Begich accept Trump’s bogus argument about trade—that Canada is “ripping off” the United States.
The narrow trade deficit that exists between the two nations is largely the result of the United States buying large amounts of oil, natural gas and electricity from Canada.
Canada has acted with restraint by not retaliating through energy exports, which would increase prices to U.S. consumers.
In contrast to Sullivan and Begich, Sen. Lisa Murkowski has recognized that Trump’s tariffs have damaged a relationship that matters to Alaskans.
“We share more than 1,538 miles of border with Canada – some of our communities share schools and churches. Our best-known road is the Alcan (Alaska-Canada) Highway. We are friends, neighbors, partners, and allies when it comes to our economies, our mutual defense, our cultures, and, yes, our trade,” she said in 2025 after voting against Trump’s tariffs.
Here is a good analysis by David Frum in the Atlantic on how Trump is already losing this trade war:
Against Canada, Trump is fighting a trade war that very few Americans support, under leadership that most Americans reject, to achieve results that virtually all Americans would dismiss as pointless if not crazy.
Against Trump, Canadians are fighting a trade war that the great majority support, under leadership that commands broad assent, to defend their independence and self-respect. That’s a war that even the weaker side can win, especially if it needs to hold on only a few months longer to survive.
The national leader who has the ability to explain this mess in an intelligent manner is not in the United States.
“Most fundamentally trade is about building mutual strength, creating a relationship that benefits both countries,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
Carney’s press conference shows a leader who can speak in complete sentences, present logical and rational arguments and is not handicapped by cognitive decline.