While there’s no audible objection coming from Gov. Bill Walker on China’s new 25 percent tariff hike on Alaska seafood, gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunleavy took to Twitter to provide a possible explanation for Walker’s silence:
“The governor claims to be ‘fish first’ while dismissing the mining industry, then goes silent as China tries to sink a $2b annual Alaska seafood industry with dirty trade tactics. What is the real cost of his China-first Gasline? #alaskafirst”
Walker made his own social media remarks Saturday, but they were aimed at sending his good wishes to participants in the LGBTQ Pride Day parade in Anchorage, where his campaign had a booth.
Is Walker feeling muzzled about fish tariffs because he so badly needs China’s money to build the AK-LNG project? Is this the new reality for Alaska, to not be able to criticize Chinese foreign or trade policy for fear of retribution?
Concern has been voiced among U.S. diplomats about Alaska’s subnational (state-to-China) relations. “States should ensure that the agreements that they sign are fair (given Beijing’s penchant for predatory investment), have no bearing on state or federal legislation, and don’t ultimately undermine U.S. foreign policy,” wrote Ashley Feng and Sagatom Saha in The Diplomat publication in April. Not to mention national security.
The Council on Foreign Relations has advised the Trump administration to appoint a full-time special representative and fund an office to coordinate state diplomacy like Walker’s, and provide advice and intelligence on Chinese investment in critical infrastructure.
Doesn’t some of our seafood (caught in alaska) go to China to be packaged and then is shipped back to here and the states, labeled ‘Alaskan caught’ and w/o reference to being packaged in China? Thought I read that sometime.
Yep, I’ve heard that too, Susan H. A shame it can’t be processed here at home. Sure would give a whole lotta people some badly needed jobs.
I have been told that the facts are much worse than that. China ships “Alaska salmon” around the world without much observation as to whether it is from Alaska or in many cases even salmon. So people say China may be shipping out more pounds of Alaska salmon than Alaska ships to them. Possibly China will one day “produce” more “Alaska salmon” than Alaska does. Who would know how much “Alaska salmon” China sells to the world in order to compare it with what Alaska ships to China?
There are lots of good ideas for generating revenue and starting to diminish our 2-year long, according to Div. Commerce (actually at least 3), recession. Unfortunately, our current governor has his head wrapped around a pipeline
Comments are closed.