President Donald Trump called on four Senate Republicans known for bucking the White House to vote down a congressional resolution attempting to end his steep tariffs against Canada.
The White House’s fear that Democrats would be able to pull enough votes from Republicans to pass the anti-tariff resolution was confirmed when the bill passed 51-48 in the Senate.
Trump accused Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) of “playing with the lives of the American people and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels” ahead of the vote.
All four voted alongside the Democrats to block Trump’s tariffs.
The resolution, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), was co-sponsored by a Republican, Paul. Earlier this week, Collins said she would support the resolution. McConnell and Murkowski publicly criticized the 25% tariffs against Canada set in place by Trump on Feb. 1 that went into effect on March 4.
“Imposing tariffs on Canada, which is our closest neighbor, [a] friendly ally, is a huge mistake and will cause disruption in the economies of both countries,” Collins told reporters Monday.
The White House used a national security justification in issuing the emergency declaration, arguing the tariffs were a necessary tool to incentivize Canada to increase border security to limit the amount of fentanyl flowing into the United States.
Trump said the resolution was “just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans” and urged residents from the senators’ states to contact the lawmakers and “get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals.”
“Why are they allowing Fentanyl to pour into our Country unchecked, and without penalty. What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS? Who can want this to happen to our beautiful families, and why?” the president said in a post to Truth Social early Wednesday morning.
Trump hoped the four GOP senators “will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change, and fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy.”
Even though the resolution passed in the Senate, it faces a GOP majority in the House, where it will likely fall short of votes. Trump also holds the ultimate power of a veto.
A spokesperson for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has expressed concern about the tariffs, told the Washington Examiner Wednesday morning that the North Carolina lawmaker was “opposed” to the resolution.
Prior to the vote, Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) office told the the Washington Examiner on Wednesday that the Iowa senator would not vote in favor of the resolution.
McConnell is known for his contrarian approach to the Trump administration and has repeatedly condemned the president’s tariffs, including in a February op-ed in Louisville’s Courier-Journal.
“It will drive the cost of everything up,” McConnell said of the tariffs during an interview with CBS News’s Lesley Stahl. “In other words, it will be paid for by American consumers. I mean, why would you want to get in a fight with your allies over this?”
Earlier this month, Murkowski similarly signaled opposition to the tariffs.
“We’ve always had a very cooperative, very collaborative relationship with our Canadian neighbors,” the Alaskan senator said during an interview with KCAW and the Daily Sitka Sentinel. “And I think it’s fair to say that there’s now a very chilling effect that we’re seeing. How might that impact tourism? I think that remains to be seen. But I do think folks are going to start seeing the prices of materials and consumer products increasing as a result of these tariffs.”
Although Trump argues the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are necessary to strengthen border security and stop the flow of deadly drugs into the U.S., Kaine says the threat is exaggerated. He claimed Trump “has justified the imposition of these tariffs on, in my view, a made-up emergency.”
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“The emergency is being invented to do the tariffs, to do the taxes on everyday Americans. Why? So they can use the tariff revenue to give a tax cut to billionaires,” he told reporters.
“I really relish giving my Republican colleagues the chance to not just say they’re concerned, but actually take an action to stop these tariffs,” Kaine told the Associated Press last week.
