The Senate took a symbolic swing at Trump’s trade strategy Thursday, passing a resolution to cancel his global tariffs with rare bipartisan support.
Led by Sen. Rand Paul, four Republicans sided with Democrats in voting for a resolution to end a national emergency declaration declared by President Trump on April 2, a policy move that had enabled sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
The Hill reported that the measure, however, is expected to stall in the Republican-led House and face certain veto from Trump himself—making it more of a message than a mandate.
The emergency declaration in question, dubbed “Liberation Day” by Trump, has served as the legal backbone for the reciprocal tariffs affecting imports globally. The Senate’s latest resolution targets the heart of that authority.
Paul’s resolution didn’t just earn support from the usual bipartisan suspects—it pulled in some powerful Republican voices. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Paul’s bid, giving it just enough heft to pass.
Notably, McConnell and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse were absent during an earlier attempt to pass this measure in April. With both present this time, and with Vice President Vance not required to cast a tie-breaker, the resolution cleared the chamber.
One of the most surprising shifts came from McConnell, who broke from his typically tight alliance with Trump to criticize the tariff policy formidably on the Senate floor. “Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive,” he stated plainly.
McConnell didn’t stop there. He challenged the revisionist take that tariffs are a conservative fixture by declaring, “The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule. And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise.”
It’s a statement that cuts sharply against the MAGA grain, but McConnell’s pivot suggests that even among establishment Republicans, patience with blanket tariffs is wearing thin.
The Senate didn’t stop with a general repeal attempt. Lawmakers also voted earlier in the week to end specific tariffs—namely, a 35% duty on Canadian goods and a whopping 50% tax on imports from Brazil.
The same four Republican senators—Paul, McConnell, Collins, and Murkowski—opposed the Canadian and Brazilian tariffs, along with Sen. Thom Tillis, who joined them in rejecting the Brazil-related measure.
Despite these moves, none of the repeal efforts are expected to gain traction in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson flatly opposes reopening debates on Trump’s trade framework.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, argued for the rollback by citing inflationary pressures on working families, saying, “American families are being squeezed by prices going up and up and up.”
He added that “More than three-quarters of families say their monthly expenses have increased by more than $100 a month,” pointing to the real-world impact of global price hikes.
Yet Wyden’s claims don’t tell the whole story. While inflation is real, tariffs are a policy lever meant to level trade playing fields—a point Trump has emphasized from day one. The idea isn’t just tax-and-burn, but reward-and-rebuild.
Paul’s resolution, though passed in the Senate, is unlikely to be brought to the House floor. Speaker Johnson has made no indication he’s interested in rescinding Trump’s emergency powers or changing the tariff trajectory.
Even if it somehow passed, President Trump is expected to veto the measure immediately—meaning the practical impact is close to zero.
The bigger takeaway here is political: although the MAGA movement remains strong, some Senate Republicans appear willing to distance themselves from Trump on trade, at least on paper.
The sharp divide over tariffs reveals a growing rift in the Republican Party between populist America First policies and more traditional free-market principles. It’s a debate worth having, but it's one the Senate seems content to stage rather than resolve.
