In a surprising political development, four Republican senators took theirs. They teamed up with their Democratic colleagues to vote Trump’s dangerous and protectionist tariff policy down nearly unanimously. This bipartisan push aims to repeal one of Trump’s national emergency declarations. This radical declaration gave Trump the authority to slap tariffs of at least 10 percent on just about everything crossing through Canada into the U.S.
The resolution goes deeper by focusing on the broader impact of Trump’s tariffs. These tariffs will initiate a new global trade war that will increase prices on American consumers. The tariffs will increase rates for all countries that have large trade surpluses with the United States. This last move has been met with alarm from nearly every affected sector of the economy.
Senators Tim Kaine, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Lisa Murkowski were key to this effort. Kaine focused on the negative impacts these tariffs would bring to agricultural states, honing in on their harmful effect on the whiskey industry. “There’s never been a one-sided trade war and they always retaliate when it’s agriculture. It hits ag states very, very hard, which includes whiskey,” Kaine stated.
The Democrat-led Senate measure would eliminate tariffs on Canadian imports. Collins made the case that this would devastate thousands of families and communities across rural Maine. Furthermore, the Maine economy is inextricably tied to Canada, our single most important trading partner. As Collins stated, the proposed tariffs on Canada would damage thousands of Maine families. They would cripple local economies, hitting everyone from home heating oil and gasoline dealers to paper mills, forest products companies, agricultural producers and lobstermen.
Indeed, that bipartisan coalition is a measure of the increasing unease among lawmakers with the consequences of Trump’s trade policies. Kaine said he was optimistic about the support he had lined up with Republican senators for the success of the vote. “I want to talk to you about my Canadian tariffs bill… and he said, ‘I’m with you,’” he recounted his conversation with McConnell regarding the need to block tariffs on Canadian imports.
For starters, he plans to introduce a privileged resolution in the U.S. House to require a vote on his tariffs. This action again highlights the increasing pressure on the administration to shift its trade strategy.
It’s how Trump retaliated against all the Republican dissent. He called on Republicans to band together to counter the Democrats’ resistance to his trade war policy. He stated that he hopes they “will finally adhere to Republican Values and Ideals.”
As debate over these tariffs persists, alarm bells are ringing about their effect on key sectors. We’re not the only sector that’s feeling the pinch. Home heating oil, gasoline and jet fuel are preparing to come under stress. The tariffs endanger not just our overall economy, but the livelihoods of thousands of people who rely on these affected industries.
Kaine emphasized that craft distillers and brewers in Virginia have expressed significant worry about the impending consequences of these tariffs. “Craft distillers in Virginia, my craft brewers are very, very worried about this,” he noted.
