Senate Approves Resolution to Nullify Trump’s Tariffs on Canada

Despite passing in the upper chamber, the bill will not make its way to the House. 4 Republican senators voted with Democrats to pass the resolution.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) (C) speaks alongside Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) (R) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 2, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Senate efforts to overturn President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States succeeded in a symbolic move.

S.J. Res. 37, legislation introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to scrap the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), was approved in a 51-48 vote.

Four Republicans—Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—voted with Democrats to pass the measure.

The emergency powers law allows the president to regulate global commerce amid a declared national emergency and has generally been used to implement trade restrictions with foreign countries. Trump tapped the Act to justify imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China over fentanyl and illegal immigration threats.

Trump and other senior administration officials have stated that Canada has not done enough to curb the flow of fentanyl entering the United States. Ottawa agreed to institute its multi-billion-dollar border agenda to clamp down on illegal drugs coming into the United States, prompting the White House to grant a tariff pause.

Before the vote, the president urged the four Republican lawmakers who supported to bill to stop their Democratic colleagues and their “wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada” over fentanyl.

Paul, a self-described constitutional conservative, has criticized the president’s tariff plans. The senator recently wrote on social media platform X that tariffs adversely affect various sectors, from real estate to farming to alcohol.

Collins also expressed concern to reporters that the levies will harm her state, which she says is integrated with the Canadian economy, citing the diverse array of products from the country.

The president appealed to the GOP members to adhere to “Republican values and ideals” by rejecting the bill.

“They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels,” Trump said in an April 2 post on the social media platform Truth Social. “The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans.”

Trump noted that these legislative efforts would hit a roadblock since the House would not approve the bill and he would never sign it. The lower chamber, during its government funding battle, added a provision to restrict congressional resolutions from being introduced to abolish the president’s tariffs.

Trump announced on April 2 his sweeping tariff plans at a “Make America Wealthy Again” event at the White House Rose Garden. While Canada was omitted from a list of countries facing reciprocal tariffs, the 25 percent levies it was facing will take effect again following a 30-day pause.

Tariff Talk on Capitol Hill

Speaking to reporters following a Senate Democratic caucus press conference, Senate Democrats stated that these tariffs would harm American families by raising costs and threatening their jobs.

Kaine said that consumers will pay more for groceries, cars, and housing since the United States imports a significant volume of agricultural products, steel, aluminum, and lumber from Canada.

Kaine also alleged that one objective of the administration’s trade policy adjustments is to generate more tariff revenue to pay for extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told reporters on April 1: “The reality is the Trump tariffs are going to hit our families like a wrecking ball, and it is going to move across the land.”

The United States is Canada’s largest agricultural trading partner, buying more than 60 percent of the northern neighbor’s exports, which are forecast to be worth $42.9 billion in 2025. Canada also represents about 84 percent of all U.S. softwood lumber imports. Meanwhile, the United States is expected to export in 2025 $28.4 billion in agricultural goods to Canada.

In addition, Canada accounted for 23 percent of total U.S. steel imports and 53 percent of total U.S. aluminum imports last year.

Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, Peter Navarro, recently estimated that non-auto tariff revenues will generate about $600 billion annually.

Peter Navarro, White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington on Feb. 4, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) told reporters ahead of the vote that tariffs could be “one of the tools” to reshore manufacturing.

Right now, Justice said, only a quarter of cars sold in the United States are wholly made from American components and assembled in the country.

“What we are is just an assembler of a bunch of expensive parts from all kinds of other countries, and that is not any good,” Justice said. “We need to bring manufacturing back to the United States.”

Since he first teased these reciprocal tariffs in February, Trump has acknowledged that there could be short-term pain for long-term gains.

“This will be the Golden Age of America!” Trump said in a February Truth Social post about bringing jobs and supply chain security back to U.S. soil. “Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!). But we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.”

Arjun Singh contributed to this report.