Amid pending tariffs, verbal attacks and insults lobbed against Canada by President Donald Trump and his team, several Alaska lawmakers want to present a contrary message.
They are working on a resolution affirming friendship with and appreciation of Alaska’s neighbor to the east and opposing punitive trade policies against that nation.
The measure, Senate Joint Resolution 9, “honors Alaska’s alliance with Canada and looks forward to many more years of cooperation, friendship, trade, tourism, cultural exchange, and good will,” according to its wording.
On Thursday, it cleared its only assigned committee, the Senate Special Committee on Arctic Affairs.
Resolutions are not laws or regulations, and they do not set policy. Rather, they express lawmakers’ sentiments, with the intention of influencing policies.
In this case, senators are expressing opposition to Trump antagonism directed toward Canada. That includes the 25% tariff on Canadian goods that Trump has vowed will go into effect on Tuesday.
This resolution proclaims that the Alaska Legislature “opposes any restrictive trade measures that would harm the unique relationship between Canada and Alaska or negatively affect our integrated economies.”
IntiMayo Harbison, a staffer to Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, Said the resolution gives historical context to the close and multifaceted relationship between Alaska and Canada “and humbly implores the United States federal government to not impose measures that would jeopardize the best interests of Alaska.”
Harbison, who outlined the resolution at Thursday’s hearing, spoke about the many ties between Alaska and Canada.
“As Arctic neighbors, we share a common bond and rely on one another to effectively manage our resources, trade, defense, tourism and many other aspects of our daily lives,” he told committee members.
Some of Alaska’s economic dependence on Canada is quantified in the resolution’s working. It cites 20,300 jobs in Alaska that rely on Canadian trade and investment and more than 47 Canadian-owned companies that operate in Alaska and employ 4,350 state residents.
Among the possible Alaska victims of tariffs imposed against Canada is the Red Dog mine, an economic powerhouse in Arctic northwestern Alaska. It is owned and operated by a Canadian company, Teck Resources, and it ships its ore to Canada for refining.
Two leading state senators cited another kind of reliance: defense.
“The United States and Canada have fought wars together, and they’ve been our allies,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. Some of the highest death rates during World War II’s Normandy invasion were sustained by Canadian soldiers, he said.
Giessel said the alliance endures, and it is notable in Alaska.
“If we need to rally the military defense, it’s the Canadians that join us. The Chinese and Russian vessels and aircraft that have bumped along our borders, the Canadians have responded as well, even this year,” she said.
Members of the committee, which Giessel chairs, advanced the resolution toward a floor vote in the Senate.
A similar measure, House Joint Resolution 11, is now pending in the state House. House Majority Leader Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, introduced it on Wednesday, and it is set to be heard in that body’s resources committee.