Alaska U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan are once again split on President Donald Trump and the impact his policies will have on the state they represent.
Murkowski, on Wednesday, was one of four Republicans to join all Senate Democrats in voting to terminate the emergency declaration Trump has used to implement high tariffs on Canadian imports. She warned that the tariffs are disastrous for Alaska, a state that does a significant amount of trade with Canada, and will end up costing Alaskans. Sullivan, meanwhile, voted in favor of the tariffs while parroting Trump’s claims that it’s all about curbing the illegal drug trade.
While the vote has been described as largely symbolic since it needs to be approved by the Republican-controlled House, which has been less divided on Trump, it’s still one of the bolder rebukes of Trump to come from the U.S. Senate this year.
“While not all Canadian trade practices are fair, I’m keenly aware of the negative impacts in store for Alaskan families and businesses should tariffs drive up the costs of essential goods,” Murkowski said in a social media post explaining her position. “In Alaska, this relationship matters. 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.”
Murkowski has long been one of the few elected Republicans to reliably call out Trump for his harmful actions. In her annual address to the Alaska Legislature, she was sharply critical of the mass firings spearheaded by Elon Musk and the damage they would cause throughout the state. Alaska counts on federal spending for a large part of its state budget, and federal employment also makes up a larger share of the economy than in other states.
The vote also comes as Trump has unleashed his “Liberation Day” tariffs that sent markets and oil prices, a critical piece of Alaska’s economy, crashing. Canada was exempted from the latest round of tariffs because of the existing tariff hikes.
Economists worry that because much of Alaska’s trade goes through Canada, the tariffs will crank up the cost of everything from groceries to building supplies. Canada has also warned that it could toll shipping trucks traveling to Alaska, further raising costs for Alaskans. Legislators late last month in the House approved a resolution “honoring the relationship between Canada and Alaska” that sought to outline the need for collaboration instead of confrontation with Canada.
“In the global uncertainty that we’re facing, we are more keenly aware why neighbors matter, why partners matter,” Anchorage Republican Rep. Chuck Kopp told the Senate Resources Committee on Monday, according to KTUU, “and everything in our life we can tie to groceries and fuel and things like that, and cooperation. And ultimately, it does come down to relationships matter.”
But much of that neighborly spirit appears lost on Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, who not only voted in favor of keeping the emergency tariffs in place but echoed Trump’s claims that Canada is a prime source of illegal fentanyl when, in fact, only a fraction of a fraction of the drug that has been seized at the Canadian border. A statement provided to the Alaska Beacon by Sullivan’s office accused Canada of being soft on the illegal drug trade.
“Senator Sullivan believes we need to do everything we can to stop the poisoning of Alaskans and Americans, including using tariffs as leverage to get Canada, Mexico and China to put more resources into stopping this deadly drug from coming into our country,” the statement said.
Sullivan’s deferential approach to Trump and efforts to downplay the damage caused by his first two months back in office is nothing new. At his annual address to the Alaska Legislature, Sullivan praised Trump for promising to boost the oil, logging and mining industries while dismissing the damage done by mass firings to critical services throughout the state. He insisted that Elon Musk and DOGE were doing necessary work for the state and also suggested he was open to reductions to Medicaid in the state.
Meanwhile, Murkowski said she shared the goal of tackling the illegal drug market and addressing other trade imbalances but said there are better ways of going about it.
“Like any relationship, there are certainly areas for improvement,” she said. “I support the President’s efforts to block the flow of fentanyl in our country, but we should remember the old saying that the U.S. and Canada are ‘neighbors by geography, and friends by choice.’ In that same spirit, I’m certain we can find a better way to mutually secure our borders and address fentanyl trafficking than by starting a trade war.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
