Anchorage Daily News · Gershon Cohen · September 9, 2026
Towns all along the Alaska border are hurting because of the bullying, posturing and insulting rhetoric from President Trump against our closest ally and neighbor. His on-again, off-again tariffs and annexation nonsense vis-a-vis Canada may be standard play for controlling the news narrative through distraction, but the consequences for Alaska and other U.S. border states have been significant. When our Canadian friends don’t visit, it hurts local economies dependent on their support. In Haines, numbers have been down two years running at the Southeast Alaska State Fair, the Great Alaska Craft Beer Festival and the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay. Businesses are directly suffering from the decline in the number of independent travelers, and without the money those businesses recycle throughout the community, the impacts are felt by almost everyone in town. [ Related coverage : Trump’s tariff war with Canada adds uncertainty for Alaska businesses already grappling with higher prices ] Silent Dan Sullivan has done nothing to address the performative insanity in D.C., even though his Senate votes could have leveraged a change in federal policy. What else should have been done? He should have reached out to the senators from the other 12 states that border Canada, whose residents are also being negatively affected, and organized a “Northern Border Caucus.” Twenty-six senators represent the states that border Canada: 12 Republicans, 12 Democrats and two independents. A bipartisan Northern Border Caucus would wield combined legislative power greater than one-quarter of the entire body. With the rest of the nation’s Democratic senators and a few Republican senators who haven’t lost their moral compass, the NBC would likely have the support of more than two-thirds of the Senate — enough votes to end this manufactured hostility. President Trump could choose to veto NBC legislation, but given the current state of our national economy, the lack of popular support for his war in Iran, his abysmal approval ratings and the fear of a blue wave in the midterm elections, even he might bow to the consequences of bucking that many senators from his own party. Alaska needs to elect a senator this November, not a Cowardly Lion always willing to take a knee before a Trumped-up Wizard. Gershon Cohen is a 43-year resident of Southeast Alaska. The Anchorage Daily News welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com . Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser . Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here .