A ban on Russian and Chinese seafood imports
What they say
His election pamphlet statement says “We’ve passed historic legislation” to do four things: clean up our oceans, strengthen salmon runs, reduce bycatch, and ban the importation of Russian and Chinese trawl-caught fish. A campaign ad released on August 11, 2026 says he banned the importation of Russian and Chinese fish.
“He banned the importation of Russian and Chinese troll caught fish”
Source: Alaska Division of Elections, Alaskans for Dan Sullivan
What the record shows ·
No law this desk read bans importing Russian or Chinese fish. His two bills to restrict Russian seafood imports, the United States-Russian Federation Seafood Reciprocity Acts of 2022 (S. 3614) and 2023 (S. 2011), were referred to the Finance Committee and went no further. His Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act, S. 688, passed the Senate by unanimous consent on March 22, 2026 and is held at the House desk; it orders a study of Russian and Chinese seafood reprocessing and says it carries no authority to impose sanctions on imports. The closest enacted provision is section 831 of the defense authorization for Fiscal Year 2026, Public Law 119-60, signed December 18, 2025, which stops the Defense Department buying seafood from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea for dining halls, ships and commissaries, with waivers. That limits what the Pentagon buys, not what enters the country, and it is not limited to trawl-caught fish. The Senate Armed Services Committee's version of the bill, reported July 15, 2025, carried a China-only provision as its section 628; the committee's report presents it as the committee's recommendation and names no author. His Senate office says he offered it, and Representative Chris Smith said on April 16, 2026 that the final bill “included a sweeping Sullivan amendment” on Chinese seafood in commissaries. Imports of Russian seafood are banned by executive order: Executive Order 14068 of March 2022, and Executive Order 14114 of December 22, 2023, which let the ban reach Russian-caught fish processed in another country. Neither is legislation.
Sources: Congress.gov, Congress.gov, Congress.gov, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Congress.gov, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Federal Register, Federal Register, U.S. Government Publishing Office, Office of Senator Dan Sullivan, Office of Senator Dan Sullivan, Office of Senator Dan Sullivan, Office of Representative Chris Smith
Limit: No law bans those imports. The closest is a 2025 defense-law section, which his office and Rep. Chris Smith credit to him, that stops the Pentagon buying seafood from China, Russia, Iran or North Korea.