Democrats were able to pass a resolution repealing President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada Wednesday thanks to the help of four Republican senators.
Led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), the resolution aimed to rescind the emergency declaration the White House issued in February to place tariffs on Canada. The Trump administration has repeatedly cited the distribution of fentanyl across the border as a reason for the emergency declaration.
The vote Wednesday ended up passing 51-48, with Republican senators Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul crossing the bipartisan line despite the president’s angry rant earlier that day.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday.
“They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels,” he continued.
“What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why? To the people of the Great States of Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine, please contact these Senators and get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals,” Trump added, quipping that the four GOP senators “have been extremely difficult to deal with.”
The president also explicitly declared that “the House will never approve” the resolution and that he will “never sign it” when it inevitably comes to his desk.
On Monday night, Collins said imposing tariffs on Canada would be a “huge mistake” that would result in substantial “disruption in the economies of both countries.”
Meanwhile, McConnell told The Hill in a statement: “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.”
The Senate vote concluded a mere few hours after Trump announced sweeping tariffs on several of the country’s biggest trading partners including the European Union and China.
“For nations that treat us badly, we will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers, and other forms of cheating. And because we are being very kind … We will charge them approximately half of what they charge us,” Trump said from the Rose Garden while unveiling his new tariff plan.
“We’re going to start being smart, and we’re going to start being very wealthy again,” he added, as the stock market impact saw an immediate plummet.
