Republican support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada is set to be put to the test in the U.S. Senate this week, with Democrats forcing a vote to nullify the emergency declaration that underpins the sweeping levies.
The vote will come as Trump pushes his so-called “Liberation Day” of reciprocal tariffs on foreign goods due to begin on Wednesday, despite some Republicans recently voicing unease with the president’s trade policies that have created turmoil in financial markets.
Even as the resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia offered what could be a potential off-ramp for the tariffs levied on Canadian imports, Republican leaders were trying to keep senators in line by focusing on fentanyl that comes into the U.S. over its northern border. It was yet another example of how Trump is not only reorienting global economics, but upending his party’s longtime support for ideas like free trade.
“Tariffs are a tax, they’re a tax on everyday people,” Kaine told reporters outside the Senate on Tuesday, where he claimed Republicans are privately “embarrassed” by Trump’s attacks on Canada, including threats to make it the 51st U.S. state.
“Republicans aren’t yet willing to stand up to the president,” he said. “They said they’re concerned about tariffs — okay, fine, you’re concerned. Now we’re giving you a vote. You can stop them if you want to.
“We’re asking everyone to have a backbone.”
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The Senate was due to take up the resolution on Tuesday, but a marathon speech by Democratic Sen. Cory Booker against the Trump administration’s policies — including tariffs — pushed the vote to Wednesday.
Kaine’s resolution would end the emergency declaration that Trump signed in February which allowed him to use national security claims to implement tariffs on Canada. Trump has cited an alleged failure to halt the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. as the reason.
Kaine said he knew of three Republicans, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who are willing to support the resolution. At least four Republicans would have to vote with all 45 Democratic senators and two independents for the measure to pass.
Collins told the Associated Press on Tuesday she was still examining the measure, yet added she supported its “intent” because “Canadian tariffs are disastrous for the state of Maine.”
“Canada’s our friends and our ally, and this is not China we’re talking about. It’s not an adversarial nation. It’s our biggest trading partner, and this just makes no sense,” she added.
If the Senate passes the resolution, it would still need to be taken up by the Republican-controlled House, which is unlikely to force its own vote on the issue.
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That chamber recently approved new language that would avoid having to hold a vote if a House member brought a similar resolution to try to end the declaration of the emergency. The language, tucked into a continuing budget resolution that prevented a government shutdown last month, essentially declared the rest of the calendar year as one long day — meaning a vote wouldn’t have to be held until 2026.
A small fraction of the fentanyl that comes into the U.S. enters from Canada. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized just under 20 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border during the 2024 fiscal year, and since January, authorities have seized about half a kilogram, according to federal data. Meanwhile, at the southern border, authorities seized over 9,500 kilograms last year.
The Trump administration has responded to those lower seizure numbers at the northern border by pointing to persistently high rates of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the U.S.
Kaine warned that tariffs on Canadian goods would ripple through the economy, making it more expensive to build homes and military ships.
“They’ll tax groceries and food products, they’ll tax building supplies at a time when home prices are too high already, they will tax fertilizer to our farmers,” he said. “They will tax our national security industry.
“The fentanyl emergency is from Mexico and China. It’s not from Canada.”
The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Annual Threat Assessment report, released last week, does not mention Canada in its section on illicit drugs and fentanyl.
Still, Trump has claimed that the amount of fentanyl coming from Canada is “massive” and pledged to follow through by executing tariffs Wednesday.
“We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge,” Trump said on social media Tuesday.
Canadian officials have sought to demonstrate a tougher border security stance, including appointing a fentanyl czar and increasing patrols and drug screening, but that has not convinced Trump to drop the tariffs.
Republican leaders in the Senate have signaled they aren’t exactly fans of tariffs, but argued that Trump is using them as a negotiating tool.
“I think all of us are anxious to see — and we’ll wait to see — what the president actually comes out with in terms of tariff policy tomorrow, but I don’t think that should change people’s vote,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
He added that the emergency declaration was made to “deal with the flow of fentanyl.”
Trump first implemented the fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4, but days later he ordered a one-month pause on items — mainly auto parts — that are traded under North American free trade rules in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
That pause expires Wednesday, which is also when Trump plans to announce a so-called “reciprocal” tariff policy that matches levies and taxes charged by all foreign trading partners.
A 25 per cent tariff on foreign-made personal vehicles and auto parts is also set to take effect on Thursday, which will come on top of a 25 per cent duty on foreign steel and aluminum.
A White House official confirmed Monday that no decision had been made on whether Trump will reinstate the fentanyl-related tariffs on Canada and Mexico. When asked about the duties Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt deferred to Trump’s Wednesday tariff announcement and declined to preview specific actions.
While Trump’s close allies in the Senate were standing steadfastly by the idea of remaking the U.S. economy through tariffs, others have begun openly voicing their dissatisfaction with trade wars that could disrupt industries and raise prices on autos, groceries, housing and other goods.
“I’m keeping a close eye on all these tariffs because oftentimes the first folks that are hurt in a trade war are your farmers and ranchers,” said Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana Republican.
Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said he would prefer to see the U.S. and its trading partners move to remove all tariffs on each other, but he conceded that Trump’s tariff threats had injected uncertainty into global markets.
“We’re in uncharted waters,” Kennedy told reporters. “Nobody knows what the impact of these tariffs is going to be.”
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas, told Global News that Trump was still enjoying a “honeymoon period” with strong approval ratings among Republicans that will make it hard for party members to break with his agenda.
“You will, though, start to see large numbers of Republican senators, legislators, and other elites begin to move against the president if we see negative economic consequences from the tariffs, which are almost certain if they actually go into force the way they’re being proposed,” he said.
“The more his approval rate (drops), the more you’re going to see Republicans begin to defect on the president.”
—With files from Global’s Reggie Cecchini and the Associated Press
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