The Senate on Wednesday approved measures to block some of the tariffs Trump has imposed on Canada, and a small number of Republicans join Democrats and pass a resolution to suspend taxes that come into effect this week.
The measure is almost certain to stall in the homes that have moved preemptively to close the move to end Trump's tariffs. But just hours after Trump announced swept tariffs to more than 100 trading partners, including the European Union, China, the UK and India, the Senate passage of measures on 51-48 votes signaled bipartisan parliamentary opposition to the president's trade war.
The resolution covers an emergency that Trump called in February and imposed a swept tariff on Canada. This is a move that rattles the market and elicits bipartisan criticism from lawmakers who are concerned about the economic impact on the state and district.
Trump imposed tariffs in an executive order citing the International Economic Emergency Rights Act. This is Cold War era law that has been most commonly used to impose sanctions on unfair states and human rights violators. His administration argued that unidentified drug trafficking from Canada constituted a disastrous threat to American national security and used it as justification to unilaterally impose a 25% tariff on America's closest trading partners.
“The president, in my view, justified the imposition of these tariffs into an emergency,” said Sen. Tim Kane, Democrat of Virginia and Sen. Tim Kane, the lead sponsor of the resolution. “The fentanyl emergency comes from Mexico and China, not from Canada.”
The resolution, conspired by two fellow Democrats, Sen. Mark Warner and Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar, is seeking to rescind the emergency declaration, thereby calling for Trump's ability to enforce tariffs set Wednesday.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the sole Republican sponsor of the resolution. But the other three GOP senators who expressed concern about the potential economic impact of Trump's trade measures are Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Markowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
“Taxes are a terrible mistake,” Paul said ahead of the vote. “They don't work. They lead to higher prices,” he added, who believes they are taxes, “has historically been bad for our economy.” Paul also argued that the emergency that Trump was being used to justify tariffs was an inappropriate evasion of the powers granted to Congress rather than the president.
Prior to the vote, Collins said he supported Trump's efforts to “stop this dangerous and deadly flow” of fentanyl on the United States, but said tariffs were “harmful.” She also added that most fentanyl comes from Mexico and China, not Canada.
Last year, about 19 kilograms of fentanyl were intercepted at the Canadian-US border. Almost 9,600 kilograms have been intercepted at the border with Mexico, according to US customs border protection.
Sen. John Tune, a South Dakota Republican and majority leader, argued that eliminating Canada's tariffs would be a mistake and would turn a blind eye to what he said was growing fentanyl issues from US northern neighbours.
“It would be wrong to view this as a Southern border issue alone. The reality is that fentanyl production is growing in Canada,” Thune said, opposing the resolution before the vote. “When we finish this emergency declaration, we'll tell you that the focus should be changed to the cartel.”
Trump worked fiercely against Republicans. In a series of social media posts Tuesday, he tried to persuade GOP supporters to attack the resolution and reconsider it.
In one post he named four Republican exiles, saying they “playing with American lives, falling into the hands of radical left Democrats and drug cartels.”
However, his efforts were not enough to discourage them.
“I share the president's goal of making it more manufacturing in Maine in the US,” Collins said ahead of Wednesday's vote. “But in reality, if you place these duties on Canadian processing, you'll be the main lobsaw man who will bear the cost, you'll be the cost-bearing consumer.”
The resolution now moves to the House where Republican leaders can now control their fate. House leaders moved quietly last month to give in to their room authority to vote to end tariffs in Canada, China and Mexico. That is, unless Republicans who manage the Chamber of Commerce choose to nurture such measures, it will never reach the floor.
But House Democrats wanted an alternative way to override Trump's tariff strategy. New York Democrat Gregory W. Meek said he would move to force a vote on a new package of tariffs that Trump announced Wednesday afternoon.
“I will soon introduce privileged resolutions to force votes to end the national emergency that Trump is using to justify these taxes,” Meeks said in a statement. “Republicans can't continue ducking this.”
