Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, is planning to force a Senate vote to undo President Trump’s across-the-board tariffs after getting through his chamber a resolution to revoke the emergency justification for previously announced tariffs on Canada.
Mr. Kaine is using Congress’ authority under the National Emergencies Act to pass a joint resolution terminating the national emergencies Mr. Trump has declared as justification for imposing tariffs.
Such measures enjoy privileges that allow any member of Congress, including the minority party, to force a vote.
The Senate on Wednesday evening narrowly passed Mr. Kaine’s resolution to nullify 25% tariffs Mr. Trump imposed on Canada in a 51-48 vote, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in support.
But both that measure and Mr. Kaine’s proposal to undo Wednesday’s tariffs face a tough road in the House.
And even if a few Republicans crossed party lines, as happened in the Senate, there is effectively no chance in either chamber of getting the two-thirds vote needed in both to override Mr. Trump’s inevitable vetoes.
The measure passes Wednesday would terminate the president’s February use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act to expand his border national emergency to include “the public health crisis of deaths due to the use of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and the failure of Canada to do more to arrest, seize, detain, or otherwise intercept DTOs, other drug and human traffickers, criminals at large, and drugs.”
Mr. Trump had used the emergency to justify tariffs on Canada, as well as Mexico and China. Mr. Kaine’s measure did not target the latter two, believing revoking the emergency with regard to Canada would be an easier first step.
Mr. Kaine is now planning to force a vote nullifying the 10% across-the-board tariffs the president has imposed on all imports and potentially the higher, reciprocal tariffs on dozens of nations that impose significant trade barriers on U.S. goods entering their countries.
“When I did the one yesterday, I had to really go try to round up people. Now I have a lot of people who want to do it,” Mr. Kaine said.
He admitted that the enthusiastic support has been more among Democrats but that he is expecting more Republicans could get on board after hearing an “earful” from constituents over the upcoming Easter-Passover recess.
“I think people going home and hearing what their families and businesses are saying about this chaos will be very clarifying,” Mr. Kaine said. “We are likely to get a much more, I would say, a more robust vote than we got last night.”
Mr. Kaine said he still needs to “unpack the rationale” for Mr. Trump’s latest round of tariffs before deciding how far his resolution would go in trying to roll them back.
Mr. Trump is again invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, this time to declare a national emergency posed by “a lack of reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships, disparate tariff rates and non-tariff barriers, and U.S. trading partners’ economic policies that suppress domestic wages and consumption.”
Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has also announced his plans to force a vote on ending the national emergency Mr. Trump is using to justify his sweeping tariffs.
House Republicans had used a rule last month to turn off Democrats’ ability to force a vote on the previous round of tariffs and could do the same again to block Mr. Meeks’ resolution. But Democrats won’t let that happen without a fight.
“Republicans can’t keep ducking this — it’s time they show whether they support the economic pain Trump is inflicting on their constituents,” Mr. Meeks said.
