Executive Summary
- The Senate passed a resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s global tariffs in a 51-47 vote.
- Four Republican senators consistently sided with Democrats against Trump’s tariff initiatives, marking the third time they opposed the president’s trade policy this week.
- The resolutions are largely symbolic, not expected to be considered by the House of Representatives, but are intended to send a strong message to President Trump.
The Story So Far
- The Senate’s recent votes against President Trump’s global tariffs stem from bipartisan concerns over his use of emergency declarations to implement these trade policies, which a group of senators, including four Republicans, view as economically harmful and an overreach of presidential power. These resolutions, while largely symbolic given their unlikelihood of passing the House or overcoming a veto, represent a concerted effort to assert congressional oversight and send a strong message to Trump regarding his trade initiatives.
Why This Matters
- Despite being largely symbolic and unlikely to become law, the Senate’s passage of resolutions aimed at ending President Trump’s global tariffs, with bipartisan support including prominent Republicans, signals growing internal party dissent against his trade policies and highlights ongoing concerns about the executive branch’s use of emergency powers, potentially influencing future policy debates or presidential responsiveness to congressional pressure.
Who Thinks What?
- Senator Tim Kaine and other Democrats, joined by some Republican senators including Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, believe President Donald Trump’s tariffs are economically harmful and object to his use of emergency powers to implement them without congressional oversight.
- President Donald Trump’s administration implemented global tariffs using emergency declarations, a policy which the Senate resolutions aim to terminate.
- House Republicans have taken steps to block votes on President Trump’s tariffs, thereby limiting legislative challenges to his trade policy.
The Senate on Thursday passed a resolution aimed at ending President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, with four Republican senators joining Democrats to object to the president’s trade policy. The measure advanced in a 51-47 vote, marking the third time this week that these particular Republicans have sided with Democrats against Trump’s tariff initiatives.
Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former GOP leader, crossed the aisle to support the resolution. These four senators had previously voted for separate resolutions earlier in the week that targeted President Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Brazil.
The resolutions seek to terminate the tariffs by ending the emergency declarations President Trump used to implement them. Despite their passage in the Senate, these votes are largely considered symbolic rebukes of the president’s trade policy.
Legislative Outlook and Political Messaging
The resolutions are not expected to be considered by the House of Representatives. Earlier this year, House Republicans took steps to block members from being able to force a vote on the president’s tariffs in the near future, limiting the legislative impact of the Senate’s actions.
Senator Paul was a co-sponsor of the global tariff resolution, and Senator McConnell had pledged to vote for all three measures. McConnell stated that “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,” in a statement earlier in the week.
Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who sponsored this resolution and the two earlier ones, expressed concerns about President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Kaine argued that presidents should not “invent a reason to use emergency powers to do all kinds of things without coming to Congress,” emphasizing the importance of congressional oversight.
Kaine acknowledged that the House would not take up his resolutions and that there isn’t a veto-proof majority in the Senate. However, he maintained that adopting anti-tariff resolutions still sends a strong message to President Trump, noting that in his first term, Trump was responsive when Republicans began voting against his policies, even in small numbers.
