The bad news is that the United States Senate just passed an alarming resolution. This latest action attempts to eliminate the tariffs that President Donald Trump placed on Canadian products. This was a largely bipartisan resolution, as it brought on board four GOP Senators to help Democrats push back against the administration’s damaging trade policies. The vote ultimately wrapped up 50 to 46 in favor.
President Trump has raised tariffs on Canada before, declaring the flow of fentanyl through our northern border to be a national emergency. This argument has drawn a lot of doubt, especially from Senator Tim Kaine, a Democratic co-sponsor of the disapproval resolution. He stated the assertion that fentanyl is a national emergency in Canada is a facade. It’s essentially a new method to levy additional tariffs.
“It is ridiculous to say that fentanyl is an emergency with respect to Canada, and it’s a pretext that’s just being used to pour more and more tariffs onto Canada,” – Sen. Tim Kaine
The resolution’s passage comes in light of an anti-tariff advertisement launched by Ontario’s Premier, which invoked quotes from former President Ronald Reagan. This ad uniquely showcased the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs on bilateral trade. Yet it highlighted the damaging impact on the economic state of play between both countries.
Republican Senators Rand Paul, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitch McConnell broke ranks with their party to support the resolution. More surprisingly perhaps, McConnell promised to vote for each of the resolutions aimed at undoing Trump’s tariffs. This commitment hints at an inflection point for the Republicans on trade matters.
This resolution represents the most serious pushback against Trump’s tariff policies so far, it will not go further than the Senate. Additionally, House Republicans have already acted to prevent any votes on the president’s tariffs from moving forward, making additional action here impossible.
Senator Kaine remains hopeful. He hopes that, regardless of whether the resolution leads to immediate action, it can still help send an essential message to President Trump. Lastly, he mentioned that Trump has been quick to cater to criticism from his own party.
“And why don’t we pour gasoline on the fire? If they run an ad we don’t like, we’ll increase the tariffs by 10%,” – Sen. Tim Kaine
This latest advance comes on the heels of another vote in April that aimed to end the Canada tariffs once and for all. This ongoing dispute is just one example of the difficult and contentious trade relationship between the United States and Canada. To say the least, given this administration and its policies.
