Senate Republicans defect, reject Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods
In a notable bipartisan move, a faction of Senate Republicans has once again aligned with Senate Democrats to reject President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods. This decision came during a vote on a resolution spearheaded by Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.), aimed at terminating the emergency powers Trump invoked to impose retaliatory tariffs earlier this year. Key Republican figures, including Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted against the tariffs, signaling a growing dissent within the GOP regarding Trump’s trade policies. Notably, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina diverged from this coalition, opting to support the tariffs, which reflects the complex dynamics at play within the Republican Party.
The backdrop to this vote is significant, as it follows Vice President JD Vance’s warning to Republicans that breaking ranks with Trump on tariffs would be a “huge mistake.” Vance argued that tariffs serve as leverage for negotiating better trade deals. However, Senator Rand Paul, a co-sponsor of Kaine’s resolution, has been a vocal critic of Trump’s tariff strategy, describing it as a tax on American consumers rather than a punitive measure against foreign entities. His stance underscores a constitutional argument that taxes should originate in the House of Representatives, not be enacted through emergency powers. This latest resolution is part of a broader set of initiatives from Kaine and Senate Democrats to challenge Trump’s tariff policies, which have faced criticism for their negative impact on American farmers and consumers.
The tariffs in question have been contentious, with Trump initially imposing a 35% duty on Canadian goods and later escalating it by an additional 10% in response to a Canadian advertisement featuring former President Ronald Reagan. Trump’s reaction was swift and severe, declaring that all trade negotiations with Canada were “hereby terminated.” McConnell, reflecting the sentiments of several affected constituents, emphasized that retaliatory tariffs have detrimental effects, particularly on Kentucky’s agricultural sector, stating that they make both building and buying in America more expensive. As the Senate moves forward with these resolutions, it remains uncertain how they will fare in the House, indicating ongoing tensions within Congress regarding Trump’s trade policies and their broader implications for the U.S. economy.
Related articles:
– Link 1
– Link 2
A small contingent of Senate Republicans again joined with Senate Democrats to reject President
Donald Trump
’s tariffs — this time on Canadian goods.
The Senate advanced a resolution from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on a bipartisan basis to terminate the emergency powers Trump used to declare retaliatory tariffs against Canada earlier this year.
Roughly the same core group of Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine,
Rand Paul
and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Senate Democrats to reject the duties. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., opted to vote against this latest attempt to reject Trump’s tariffs.
SENATE REPUBLICANS DEFY VANCE’S WARNING, VOTE TO BLOCK TRUMP’S BRAZIL TARIFFS AMID SHUTDOWN
“The vice president came up yesterday to try to corral Republicans at their lunch,” Kaine said before the lunch. “That shows the White House is worried about defectors on this.”
Indeed, their votes against Trump’s tariffs on Canada came after Vice President
JD Vance
warned Republicans that it would be a “huge mistake” to break with the White House on the president’s tariff strategy, and he argued that using duties on countries across the globe offered leverage to generate better trade deals in return.
Paul, one of the co-sponsors of Kaine’s resolution, has consistently rejected Trump’s usage of tariffs and argued that it was a tax on consumers in the U.S. rather than on foreign countries.
SCHUMER, DEMS CALL ‘BULL—-‘ ON TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER FOOD STAMP SHUTDOWN THREAT
He noted that the message it would send to the White House, despite pressure from Vance to support Trump’s duties, was “that a rule by emergency is not what
the Constitution
intended, that taxes are supposed to originate in the House of Representatives.”
The resolution was in response to Trump’s usage of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in July to impose tariffs on Canadian goods. The tariffs on the country vary, with Trump initially placing 35% duties on the country earlier this year, along with a blanket 50% tariff on steel from other countries.
However, he recently cranked up the tariffs on Canada by 10% following an ad that ran last week that featured former President
Ronald Reagan
, which used audio from the former president’s 1987 “Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.”
TRUMP SLAPS CANADA WITH EXTRA 10% TARIFF OVER ‘FRAUDULENT’ REAGAN ADVERTISEMENT: ‘HOSTILE ACT’
Trump railed against the ad, which was run by the government of Ontario, Canada, and declared, “ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” in a post on Truth Social.
The latest tariff vote is the second in a trio of resolutions from Kaine and several Senate Democrats. Despite the resolution terminating Trump’s emergency powers on tariffs in Brazil and Canada both advancing in the Senate, they will likely stall in the House.
McConnell staked his position against the tariffs in a statement, where he argued that retaliatory tariffs have negatively affected Kentucky farmers and distillers.
“Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise,” he said. “This week, I will vote in favor of resolutions to end emergency tariff authorities.”
Eric
Eric is a seasoned journalist covering US Politics news.
