U. S. Senate votes to block Trumps Canadian tariffs in rebuke to his tr
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theglobeandmail. com
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April 2, 2025
U. S. Senate votes to block Trumps Canadian tariffs in rebuke to his trade agenda
Sen. Mitch McConnell arrives prior to the Senate Republicans weekly policy luncheon, in the U. S. Capitol on March 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Al Drago/Getty Images
A bipartisan coalition of U. S. senators voted in favour of ending the
state of emergency that allows the Trump administration to unilaterally
impose tariffs on Canadian goods, arguing that the White House overreached
by targeting its northern neighbour.
The vote is the most significant Republican rebuke of the Trump
administrations second term, with four Republicans Kentucky senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, as well as Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Susan Collins, of Maine breaking rank. The vote passed 51 to 48. The win is
largely symbolic because its unlikely to have any practical effect in
Congress. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has pledged
not to intervene in Mr. Trumps tariff agenda, and the president has veto
power that can only be overridden by a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber. The fate of the resolution was unclear until votes were tallied
late Wednesday evening.
Still, Democrats took the success as a victory that sends a clear message
to the White House.
The resolution, which was introduced by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, was a
key test of the willingness of members of the Republican party to stand
against Mr. Trumps invocation of emergency powers to impose tariffs, which
are a central pillar of the presidents America First trade policy. Just
hours before the vote, on what the White House declared Liberation Day, Mr. Trump signed a sweeping executive order stating that existing tariffs
related to the U. S. -declared fentanyl emergency would remain in place for Canada and Mexico, with no levies on goods compliant with the U. S. - Mexico-Canada agreement. Non-compliant products will continue to be taxed
at 25 per cent, with a lower 10-per-cent rate on energy and potash. If the fentanyl emergency is cancelled at some point, the tariff on non-compliant goods will fall to 12 per cent.
Early Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump warned Republican senators against
voting with the Democrats. In a social media post, he singled out the four Republicans who had indicated they would support the resolution or were considering it. He wrote that he hoped they would get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to
not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order
to make it more costly to distribute and buy.
The White House has repeatedly cited U. S. Customs and Border Protection
data to assert that 43 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the northern border last fiscal year, accusing Canada of being responsible for a massive 2050% increase compared with the year prior. In his Feb. 1 executive order, Mr.
Trump said the flow of illicit drugs from Canada constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat requiring expanded executive authority to impose
tariffs. The emergency declaration unlocked his ability to introduce import taxes without congressional approval.
A two-month Globe and Mail investigation into the border agencys fentanyl
data has determined that much less than 43 pounds of the opioid was
positively attributed to Canada in fiscal 2024. New data released to The
Globe under freedom-of-information laws, published Wednesday, show the
border agency determined that 0.74 pounds of fentanyl originated in Canada. That is 0.13 per cent of the fentanyl seizures at the northern border, the
data say. The investigation uncovered that the agencys methodology for attributing seizures to the northern border doesnt hinge on whether the fentanyl was intercepted at the border or whether it came from Canada. It
could have been seized hundreds of kilometres inland, and it may have no
ties to Canada whatsoever.
Mr. Kaine, of Virginia, said the Trump administration invented the
emergency to serve its trade agenda. Is fentanyl a problem? Yes. Is it an emergency? Yes, he said on the Senate floor in his remarks ahead of the
vote. But fentanyl is not a Canadian emergency. He pointed to The Globes investigation as evidence that the northern border figure cited by the
White House is inflated and doesnt represent the true volume of fentanyl flowing from Canada.
Over the course of the day Wednesday, senators took to the floor to argue
their case on either side. Those in favour of the resolution accused the
Trump administration of executive overreach into the area of foreign
commerce, on the basis of an invented Canadian fentanyl emergency at the northern border. Many spoke to the economic toll of the tariffs on their constituents, and the deterioration of a historically cherished
relationship with a country long seen as a friend and ally.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, a staunch supporter of free markets who co- sponsored the bill alongside Democrats and an Independent senator, said
tariffs in general are a terrible mistake and that the declaration at the northern border is not a real emergency. Even before Mr. Trump took office,
Mr. Paul has been outspoken about the need to rein in emergency powers. He reiterated those concerns on the Senate floor Wednesday, saying a sitting presidents political party has no bearing on his view that executive powers should not be abused in the name of a self-declared emergency.
As expected, Republican Senator Susan Collins broke rank with her party and voted in favour of the resolution, saying that although she is committed to stemming the tide of fentanyl flowing into the United States, the fact is
the vast majority of fentanyl in America comes from the southern border.
She said that while she believes there is a strong case for tariffs on
goods from Mexico and China, due to the role of those countries in the U.
S. toxic drug crisis, she doesnt see the justification for targeting
Canada.
Unlike Mexico and China, Canada is not complicit in this crisis, and we
should continue working with our Canadian allies to secure the northern
border, not unfairly penalize them, Ms. Collins said. Our consumers, our manufacturers, our lobstermen, our blueberry growers, our potato farmers
will pay the price.
Those who voted against the resolution doubled-down on the White Houses assertion that fentanyl is pouring across the northern border into the
United States despite the fact that the U. S. intelligence communitys
annual threat assessment released last week doesnt even mention Canada, and despite the fact that the U. S. border agencys own drug-seizure data
indicates Canada is not the problem the White House says it is.
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Seeing this train coming down the tracks, Mikey Johnson has magically
turned 1 year into 1 day so it'll never get a vote in the House. (I'm
serious)
Republicans Quietly Cede Power to Cancel Trump's Tariffs, Avoiding a Tough Vote House G.O.P. leaders tucked the provision into a procedural measure
needed to pass a government spending bill.
By Catie Edmondson
The New York Times
Reporting from the Capitol
Published March 11, 2025
Updated March 13, 2025
House Republican leaders on Tuesday quietly moved to shield their
members from having to vote on whether to end President Trump's tariffs
on Mexico, Canada and China, tucking language into a procedural measure
that effectively removed their chamber's ability to undo the levies.
The maneuver was a tacit acknowledgment of how politically toxic the
issue had become for their party, and another example of how the
all-Republican Congress is ceding its power to the executive branch.
In this case, Republican leaders did so using a particularly unusual contortion: They essentially declared the rest of the year one long
day, nullifying a law that allows the House and Senate to jointly put
an end to a disaster declared by the president.
House Democrats had planned to force a vote on resolutions to end the
tariffs on Mexico and Canada, a move allowed under the National
Emergencies Act, which provides a mechanism for Congress to terminate
an emergency like the one Mr. Trump declared when he imposed the
tariffs on Feb. 1.
That would have forced Republicans -- many of whom are opposed to
tariffs as a matter of principle -- to go on the record on the issue at
a time when Mr. Trump's commitment to tariffs has spooked the financial
markets and spiked concerns of reigniting inflation.
But Republican leaders on Tuesday slipped language into a procedural
measure that would prevent any resolution to end the tariffs on Mexico,
Canada and China from receiving a vote this year. It passed on party
lines as part of a resolution that cleared the way for a vote later
Tuesday on a government spending bill needed to prevent a shutdown at
the end of the week.
The national emergency law lays out a fast-track process for Congress
to consider a resolution ending a presidential emergency, requiring
committee consideration within 15 calendar days after one is introduced
and a floor vote within three days after that. But the language House Republicans inserted in their measure on Tuesday declared that, "Each
day for the remainder of the 119th Congress shall not constitute a
calendar day" for the purposes of the emergency that Mr. Trump declared
on Feb. 1.
Democrats jeered the maneuver.
"The speaker is petrified that members of this House will actually have
to take a vote on lowering costs on the American people," said
Representative Greg Meeks, Democrat of New York, who introduced the
privileged resolution. "If Congress can't act to lower prices, protect retirement savings and hold the president accountable, what are we even
doing here?"
Democrats in the Senate could still try to force a vote to end the
tariffs, putting Republicans in that chamber in a tough spot. But in
order to terminate the levies, a resolution would have to pass both
chambers and be signed by Mr. Trump.
Ana Swanson contributed reporting.
Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times.
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