Canada is Alaska's closest and best neighbor. The dumb Trump trade war damages Alaska.

The headline above says it all.

So why did Alaska’s Republican leaders have nothing to say about the dumbest trade war in history?

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Rep. Nick Begich the Third should have condemned the trade war the moment it was announced.

Instead, they hid, probably secretly sending thoughts and prayers that no one would notice their silence.

The stock market fell sharply early Monday. Then, after Mexico pledged to move troops to the border—similar to a move it took during the Biden administration—and Canada pledged to continue with the border plan it announced in December, Trump backed off.

Canada is Alaska’s closest and best neighbor and we have a relationship that will be damaged by Trump’s antics. Let’s hope we have seen the last of his trade war with Canada and Mexico.

Trump is an agent of chaos, however, so no one can say for sure. He and his cult see strength in his weakness.

Leave it to the Trump sycophants at the Wall Street Journal to make the case against him: "The tariff broadside also adds new policy risk and uncertainty that could dampen business animal spirits. Markets have been pricing in an assumption that Mr. Trump would step back from his most florid tariff threats, or limit tariffs to China.”

Trump could dampen “business animal spirits,” the Murdoch organ says.

There are claims in press reports that Trump wants to blackmail Japan into backing an Alaska gas pipeline by threatening a trade war with Japan. The threat of tariffs is supposed to lead the Japanese to invest tens of billions in Alaska.

The Japanese, more skilled at diplomacy that Trump, will talk and promise to keep talking and talking. They will realize he is not to be trusted and he can easily be bluffed, as long as he hears what he wants to hear, and is praised as the great and powerful Trump.

The gas pipeline talking could easily last for more years than Trump has left.

The Journal has wavered between calling this the dumbest or one of the dumbest trade wars in history. Either one will do.

“None of this is supposed to happen under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that Mr. Trump negotiated and signed in his first term. The U.S. willingness to ignore its treaty obligations, even with friends, won’t make other countries eager to do deals. Maybe Mr. Trump will claim victory and pull back if he wins some token concessions. But if a North American trade war persists, it will qualify as one of the dumbest in history,” a Wall Street Journal editorial said.

And Alaska Republican leaders? They had nothing to say until Trump backed off. And then only Murkowski stepped up.

But Murkowski tried to make it appear this was not a Trump reversal: “I’m glad to see that both Mexico and Canada are stepping up and working with President Trump to address border security and the fentanyl crisis. Our countries must work together to keep our people safe.”

The $1.3 billion plan that Trump trumpeted as something new was not: “Canada is investing $1.3 billion to bolster security at the border and strengthen the immigration system, all while keeping Canadians safe,” Public Safety Canada said on December 18.

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