Voting on legislation that would undo tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on goods from Canada will likely move to Wednesday, said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in a Tuesday speech.
Kaine, who led the legislation along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said last Friday that they expected the vote to take place this Tuesday. He explained in his Tuesday speech that it would be moved for Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-N.J.) marathon speech against Trump’s policies.
“Booker took to the Senate floor beginning at 7 p.m. ET last night with the intention of speaking as long as he is physically able to uplift the stories of Americans who are being harmed by the Trump Administration’s reckless actions, attempts to undermine our institutions, and disregard for the rule of law,” said a Wednesday press release from his office.
According to Kaine’s office, the tariff legislation would undo Trump’s 25% tariff on Canadian goods. It noted that there has been “strong pushback” against the tariff plan from people in the U.S., including businesses and industry leaders.
“It’s possibly that just enough… Republicans could come over with democrats to get this over the finish line,” said ABC News national correspondent Steven Portnoy in an interview this week with KYW Newsradio. “They’re using a certain kind of procedure that would challenge the president’s ability to say that there’s an emergency underway, and therefore as a result of an emergency he could apply these tariffs he’s talked about.”
In his Tuesday speech, Kaine called it a “fake Canadian emergency,” and said that the future of the legislation doesn’t seem as partisan cut-and-dry as some of the others coming before Congress. He said the tariffs will ultimately make goods from Canada more expensive. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week that the average family in Buffalo N.Y. could see their costs of groceries, gas, and goods skyrocket by over $6,000 per year in higher prices due to the tariffs.
Trump has said that one goal of the tariffs is to crack down on illicit fentanyl entering the U.S. While Kaine acknowledged that fentanyl is an issue in the U.S., he also said that China and Mexico – other countries Trump has called for tariffs on – are the countries that contribute most to the problem, not Canada.
As of Tuesday, there were six Democratic co-sponsors of the bill as well as one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Kaine also said that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has also indicated she’ll vote for the bill. However, the likelihood of it getting passed by both chambers of Congress and sent to the president’s desk still seems far off, according to Portnoy.
“If it passes the senate the question becomes… what will Speaker Mike Johnson do in the House? Would he see it on the floor? Would Republicans back it there?” said Portnoy. “It remains to be seen, but I don’t think that republicans who are loyal to the president – even if they oppose tariffs, and many do privately – I don’t think you’ll see them getting on board... behind something that would be seen as uh... defying the president in what he is doing this week, which is implementing taxes talked about for a very long time for a variety of reasons.”
Trump addressed the attempt to block the tariffs Tuesday in a Truth Social post.
“Senator Tim Kaine, who ran against me with Crooked Hillary in 2016, is trying to halt our critical Tariffs on deadly Fentanyl coming in from Canada,” said the president. “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. By their weakness, the Democrats have allowed Fentanyl to get out of hand. The Republicans and I have reversed that course, strongly and quickly. Major additional progress is being made. Don’t let the Democrats have a Victory. It would be devastating for the Republican Party and, far more importantly, for the United States.”
Portnoy said that Trump believes the tariffs will protect domestic manufacturing, that he can use them to extract certain leverage points from foreign countries and that he can raise revenue and help offset the costs of his promises to reduce or eliminate income taxes. Experts have noted that past uses of tariffs by the U.S. have not always gone well.
“The trouble for the president is it’s Americans who buy imported goods, that pay those tariffs and you’re seeing it reflected in the polls,” Portnoy said. “Six in 10 Americans in a recent a poll disapprove of the president’s handling of trade negotiations 58% disapprove this handling of the economy overall,” he added, citing AP-NORC poll results.