Small group of Republicans join Democrats to rebuke Trump on Canadian tariffs in Senate vote

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Wednesday night that would thwart President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs on Canada, delivering a rare rebuke to the president just hours after he unveiled sweeping plans to clamp down on international trade.

The Senate voted 51-48 to approve the bill and send it to the House of Representatives, where it is likely to be shelved. In a blow to Trump, four Senate Republicans teamed up with Democrats to advance the legislation.

The Democratic-sponsored bill would terminate a national emergency Trump declared on Jan. 22, which he linked to illegal imports of the deadly fentanyl drug from Mexico, Canada and China and used to target Canada with steep new tariffs.

The measure needed at least four Republican votes to pass in the chamber where Trump's party holds a 53-47 majority.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, had urged defeat of the bill, arguing that shifting attention away from Canada would be "a step backward."

"Will the cartels simply shift tactics and expand their operations to the north?" he said. "I think we can be confident the answer to that question is yes."

In a social media post Trump urged four fellow Republicans by name to reject the bill: Veteran senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.

They ignored his pressure.

Of the four, only Collins is scheduled to have to defend her seat in the next wave of Senate elections in November 2026.

Fentanyl rationale questioned

To justify the tariffs, Trump has argued that Canada is not doing enough to stop illegal drugs from entering the northern border. Customs and Border Protection seized 19 kilograms of fentanyl in its northern border sector during the 2024 fiscal year, and since January, authorities have seized less than one kilogram, according to federal data. Meanwhile, at the southern border, authorities seized over 9,500 kilograms last year.

"This is not about fentanyl. It's about tariffs. It's about a national sales tax on American families," said Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat who initiated the resolution, at a news conference Wednesday.

Kaine rejects Trump's 'fake Canadian emergency':

Trump's tariffs based on 'fake Canadian emergency,' says U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine

3 days ago

Duration 12:22

The U.S. Senate is set to vote Tuesday on a resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump's use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, to declare an emergency at the northern border in order to hit Canada with tariffs.

At the White House on Wednesday, Trump singled out Canada as a beneficiary of "unfair" trading practices with the U.S., though his latest order did not add to tariffs already in place on Canada and Mexico.

For their part, Republican leaders tried to hold their members in line not by talking about the impacts of tariffs, but by emphasizing that Trump was acting to address fentanyl trafficking and border security.

Sen. John Barrasso argued in a floor speech that former President Joe Biden had "also thrown open the northern border. The criminal cartels noticed and they took advantage."

"President Trump is taking the bold, decisive, swift action that is necessary to secure that border as well," the Wyoming senator said.

Tariffs not a conservative plan: Kentucky's Paul

In a floor speech Wednesday, Collins said she would support the resolution and noted, "The fact is the vast majority of fentanyl in America comes from the southern border."

Collins said she was concerned about what tariffs would do to businesses and households in Maine, pointing to a mill in Maine that pumps paper pulp from Canada.

"A tariff placed on this pulp would jeopardize the financial well-being of this vital paper mill, which employs more than 500 people in rural, northern Maine. There is not another big employer in that area that can possibly compensate for the loss of those 510 direct jobs," Collins said.

Paul, a Kentucky Republican who often supports libertarian economic views, also delivered an impassioned floor speech, arguing that the president should not be given unilateral authority to impose taxes on imports.

"Every dollar collected in tariff revenue comes straight out of the pockets of American consumers," he said. 

"Conservatives used to be uniformly opposed to raising taxes because we wanted the private marketplace, the private individuals to keep more of their income," he added.

LISTEN l  Potomac Strategy Group's Eric Miller, international trade consultant, on the tariffs: 

Front Burner29:13Trump's trade war goes global

In the culmination of countless speeches, tweets and campaign promises, U.S. president Donald Trump has finally unveiled sweeping tariffs on goods imported into the country — from nearly every country it does business with. He dubbed it "Liberation Day," calling it the start of a new era of economic independence for the United States, saying it will bring jobs and industry back to the country. But some economists say the tariffs will throw international trade into chaos, with unpredictable knock-on effects, and possibly even cause a worldwide recession. Eric Miller is an international trade consultant and president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group. He breaks down everything we know so far about the tariffs, what they'll mean for Canada and whether the free trade era as we know it is over for good. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]

While a younger group of Republicans closely aligned with Trump has spoken out in favor of the president's plans to aggressively reshape the economy, a sizable portion of the Republican Conference voiced concerns about the tariff impacts on farmers and other industries. 

North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer said that he has been in constant talks with both Canadian officials and businesses in his state, like Bobcat, which does a significant amount of its sales in Canada. He voted against the resolution. Instead, he hoped that Trump's order would just be a starting point for negotiations to mutually drop tariffs.

The Republican added: "I'm not overly concerned about it, but obviously it occupies a lot of attention and time and a lot of political anxiety."

Democrats planned to keep pressing into that anxiety. After Trump's announcement, Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on social media he would also force a similar vote in the House on the tariffs.

"Republicans can't keep ducking this — it's time they show whether they support the economic pain Trump is inflicting on their constituents," he said.