4 GOP senators vote with Democrats to undo Trump tariffs on Canada

A group of Republican senators voted along with Democrats on Wednesday for a resolution to undo President Trump's 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, dealing an embarrassing blow to Trump.

The resolution expresses the sense of the Senate and doesn’t have the force of law, but its 51-48 passage is unwelcome news for the president on the very day he announced a host of new tariffs.

Four Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — voted for the measure.

They voted to express their disapproval of Trump’s tariffs on Canada a few hours after the president announced he would impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports and levy even higher rates on imports from the European Union, China, Vietnam and Japan.

Collins told reporters after the vote that she had serious concerns about Trump’s decision to slap high tariffs on U.S. allies such as Canada.

“In general, one of my biggest concerns is we should be distinguishing between allies and our adversaries and not treating them the same way,” she said.

McConnell made a similar argument after casting his vote.

“With so much at stake globally, the last thing we need is to pick fights with the very friends with whom we should be working with to protect against China’s predatory and unfair trade practices,” he said in a statement.

Murkowski said she did “what I needed to do for Alaska.”

She said her constituents are worried about what Trump’s tariffs “are going to mean for price increases.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had urged Republican colleagues to vote against the resolution, advising them it was a political gambit by Democrats to embarrass Trump.

Thune argued on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon that the tariff against Canada is necessary leverage to push Canadian authorities to crack down on drug smuggling across the northern border.

“I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution and ensure that President Trump has the tools that he needs to combat the flow of fentanyl from all directions,” he said.

He argued the fentanyl crisis warrants “an aggressive response.”

Democrats framed the resolution as a plea for Trump to stop escalating his trade war with Canada, one of the nation’s biggest trading partners.

They said Trump’s Canadian tariffs would impact an estimated 6.5 million jobs across the country.

Trump, for his part, took a shot at Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) for sponsoring the resolution.

“Sen. Tim Kaine, who ran against me with Crooked Hillary in 2016, is trying to halt our critical Tariffs on deadly Fentanyl coming in from Canada. We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

He also targeted the four Republicans in the hours before the vote.

“Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully 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,” Trump posted.

Collins and Murkowski said Trump did not try to reach out them directly ahead of the vote.

Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The resolution would also undo Trump's 10 percent tariff on energy resources from Canada. 

Collins has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s 25-percent tariff on Canadian goods, warning last month it would have a “devastating” impact on some businesses in her state.

Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Collins pointed out that “the Maine economy is integrated with Canada, our most important trading partner.”

"From home heating oil, gasoline, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products, to Maine’s paper mills, forest products businesses, agricultural producers, and lobstermen, the tariffs on Canada would be detrimental to many Maine families and our local economies,” she said.

“The Canadian tariffs will definitely have a detrimental impact on the economy of Maine and on border communities in particular,” she told The Hill last month. “We have for example a major paper mill in Northern Maine right on the border that gets its pulp from Canada.

“That mill alone, which is by far the biggest employer in the region, employs 510 people directly. I’ve talked to the owner of that mill, the imposition of a 25-percent tariff could be devastating,” she warned.

Paul, a libertarian-leaning conservative, has been the loudest critic in the Senate GOP conference of Trump’s trade war with Canada and Mexico. He is a co-sponsor of the resolution.

“I have every major industry in Kentucky lobbying me against them: the cargo shippers, the farmers, the bourbon manufacturers, the homebuilders, the home sellers — you name it — fence manufacturers,” Paul told The Hill last month.

He also said the tariffs were an end-run around Congress.

“Trade is a good thing. Trade is proportional to prosperity and so tariffs are bad economically,” he told reporters Tuesday. “It’s a terrible idea to run a country by emergency where representatives to vote on raising or lowering taxes.”

Paul said tariffs “are bad for the country, bad for prosperity, bad for the economy.”

“Our Constitution was very specific that taxes — tariffs are a tax — taxes originate in the House, come to the Senate and then go the president,” he said. “They don’t just go to the president and no one else. What kind of system would it be if all of our taxes and laws were passed by one person?”

McConnell, speaking at a recent press conference in Kentucky, pointed out that Canadian authorities have already pulled Kentucky-distilled bourbon from its store shelves.

“I’m not a fan of tariffs,” he said. “We have 70,000 farmers in Kentucky, basically make their money off of trade, export. So I think a long-term trade war would be a mistake.”

In the statement he released Wednesday evening, McConnell called tariffs “a tax on everyday working Americans.”

“Make no mistake: goods made in America will be more expensive to manufacture and, ultimately, for consumers to purchase, with higher broad-based tariffs,” he said.

“At a time when Americans are tightening their belts, we would do well to avoid policies that heap on the pain,” he cautioned.  

Senate Democrats hailed the passage of the bill as a big political victory at a time when many in their party feel frustrated over Trump’s aggressive moves to slash the federal government and reshape global alliances.

“We always felt that things were going to begin turning in our direction, and they are,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who lauded Kaine’s leadership of the resolution.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a co-sponsor of the resolution, said the vote sends a “clear message” to Trump to back off from his trade war.

“Today, the Senate sent a clear message to the President: You cannot abuse your powers to start an unjustified trade war with one of our strongest allies. Canada is Minnesota’s top trading partner, but the President’s tariffs are jeopardizing that relationship—and the consequences may be irreversible,” she said in a statement.

Senate Republican leaders who opposed the resolution said it won’t come up for a vote in the Republican-controlled House. They predicted it would never make it to Trump’s desk.

“It’ll go nowhere in the House and the president won’t sign it, so it’s not going to go anywhere,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an adviser to the Senate GOP leadership team.

The S&P 500 fell in after-hours trading Wednesday after Trump announced his 10 percent across-the-board tariffs and his reciprocal tariffs targeting Europe, China, Vietnam and Japan.

Updated at 10:45 p.m. EDT