James Lynch writes for National Review Online about the U.S. Senate’s response to the president’s recent tariffs.
The GOP-controlled Senate passed a resolution Wednesday rebuking President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration used to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports.Four GOP Senators, Rand Paul (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and McConnell (Ky.) joined all of their Democratic colleagues in passing Senator Tim Kaine’s (D., Va.) resolution to end Trump’s national emergency. Trump has justified the tariffs on Canada by criticizing America’s northern neighbor for failing to secure its border and prevent the flow of fentanyl.
“Tariffs are a tax. Tariffs will hurt our families. Canada is not an enemy. Let’s act together to fight fentanyl. We can do that. We have done that — we showed it with the HALT Fentanyl Act we passed two weeks ago. But let’s not label an ally as an enemy. Let’s not impose punishing costs on American families at a time they can’t afford it. Let’s not hurt American small businesses. Let’s not make our national security investments in ships and subs more expensive” Kaine said on the Senate floor.
The GOP-controlled House is unlikely to take up the resolution, making it a largely symbolic condemnation of a core aspect of Trump’s economic agenda. So far in Trump’s presidency, Senate Republicans have swiftly moved to confirm his cabinet nominees and are working to advance his agenda through the budget reconciliation process.
Paul, an ideological libertarian, said he was standing up for the American ideal of “no taxation without representation,” a principle dating back to the revolutionary war and Founding Father Patrick Henry. McConnell is not running for reelection and has broken from Trump on several occasions while serving the remainder of his term.
Collins and Murkowski are two of the chamber’s remaining moderates and have similarly broken from Trump multiple times since he assumed office again.
