The Senate voted 50-46 to overturn the national emergency that let the president slap extra tariffs on Canada, and four Senate Republicans crossed the aisle to join Democrats on the resolution. The move highlights a split within the GOP over trade policy, while senators debated whether tariffs protect Americans or simply raise prices at home. Lawmakers quoted on the floor argued sharply about who pays for tariffs and whether the emergency declaration was appropriate. The resolution formally ends the emergency order tied to tariffs on Canadian imports.
The roll call showed four Republicans voting with Democrats: Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, and Rand Paul. That coalition pulled the resolution across the finish line in a close, partisan fight that underscored friction over the use of emergency powers for trade policy. The vote also came during a prolonged federal shutdown, adding pressure and political heat to the debate on Capitol Hill. Senators on both sides framed the issue as either a needed check on executive overreach or a damaging blow to national security and industry.
Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine put his name on the resolution and used a blunt floor speech to condemn the president’s tariff strategy. He said, “President Trump’s tariff regime — global, Brazilian tariffs, Canadian tariffs, tariff deals announced then paused, tariff deals negotiated, exceptions granted and in some cases not granted — have created huge chaos in the national economy,” Kaine said. “Tariffs are a tax on American consumers. Tariffs are a tax on American businesses. And they are a tax that is imposed by a single person: Donald J. Trump.” That argument framed the vote as protecting consumers from unilateral executive policy.
The emergency was declared on February 1, 2025, with the administration tying it to fentanyl trafficking across the Canadian border and using the declaration to impose tariffs. The original order said, “Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs.” Senators pushing the resolution said that connection did not justify broad trade barriers that ripple through supply chains and raise costs for families.
Mitch McConnell argued the tariffs hit his home state hard and hammered manufacturers, farmers and consumers alike. “New trade barriers imposed this year have made it harder to sustain the supply chains that let thousands of Kentuckians build cars and appliances in the Commonwealth,” McConnell said in a statement. “Retaliatory tariffs on American products have turned agricultural income upside down for many of Kentucky’s nearly 70,000 family farms. Bourbon has been caught in the crossfire from Day One. And consumers are paying higher prices across the board as the true costs of trade barriers fall inevitably on them.”
Sen. Rand Paul echoed the simple point Republicans often make: tariffs function like a hidden tax that American families ultimately pay. Paul also said that tariffs are a tax on consumers. The larger debate hinges on whether tariffs are a blunt tool that backfires economically or an essential lever to pressure foreign partners to act on security issues.
The president added an extra 10 percent tariff on Canada amid a row over a fabricated Ronald Reagan TV ad that criticized his earlier trade moves, according to press coverage at the time. That escalation turned a law-enforcement argument about illicit cross-border activity into a wider trade fight that pulled in farms, manufacturers and consumers. The resolution the Senate passed reads in part: “Terminating the national emergency declared to impose duties on articles imported from Canada.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, pursuant to section 202 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622), the national emergency declared on February 1, 2025, by the President in Executive Order 14193 (90 Fed. Reg. 9113) is terminated.” That formal language ends the specific authority used to impose the duties and restores congressional oversight to trade policy moves made under emergency claims.
Earlier in the month, a bipartisan group of senators voted to strike down separate tariffs on Brazil, showing that the same split over trade policy has repeated across multiple votes. In July the president declared another emergency before imposing steep duties on Brazilian imports, and federal estimates later suggested tariff policy would have dramatic fiscal effects. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the tariffs could reduce the deficit by $4 trillion, a projection that fed both hope and skepticism among lawmakers.
The vote took place on day 28 of the federal government shutdown, the second-longest since 1981, making the timing politically sensitive. Many Republicans argued the move was necessary to protect consumers and industries from self-inflicted damage, while some in the party defended a tougher stance on trade and border security. The debate left clear divisions: one side focused on immediate economic pain and supply-chain disruption, the other on using every tool available to pressure foreign partners.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
