April 2, 2025, 8:35 p.m.
It’s “Liberation Day” at the White House, but at the Capitol lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are wondering whether the American economy will be set free from uneven trade agreements or pulled down by Trump administration protectionism.
In a Rose Garden event Tuesday, President Trump announced a new raft of tariffs touching on a sweeping range of the economy, including a 10 percent baseline tax on imports for most U.S. trading partners and a 25 percent levy on foreign-made automobiles.
“This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It’s our declaration of economic independence,” Trump said at the event attended by Cabinet members and members of the United Auto Workers.
Congressional GOP leaders have defended Trump’s new tariffs, but some rank-and-file Republicans aren’t so sure, while others back the tariffs in principle but want carve-outs for their parochial interests.
Senators were forced to go on record Wednesday on some of Trump’s tariffs, which he has been announcing in waves since he retook office in January.
The upper chamber passed a resolution that would roll back an emergency declaration underpinning Trump’s earlier-announced tariffs with Canada. The administration imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canada in February, arguing the longtime ally to the north hasn’t done enough to staunch the flow of fentanyl.
“There is a fentanyl emergency, but it’s not Canada,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who is leading the resolution, said from the Senate floor Wednesday. “It’s not an emergency from Canada, and it’s certainly not an emergency that would justify treating Canadian products with exactly the same tariff that we would levy on products from Mexico and from China.”
About 43 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border in fiscal 2024, per Customs and Border Patrol. Nearly 22,000 pounds were seized at the southern border.
The resolution is being forced by Kaine under the National Emergencies Act, which allows lawmakers to terminate emergencies declared by the president.
Trump has the power to veto the effort if it lands on his desk, but it already faces a high hurdle in the GOP-led House. House Speaker Mike Johnson could simply ignore the resolution.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump blasted Kaine’s effort, saying, “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,” Trump continued.
But several Republicans ended up breaking with the president and supporting the Democrats’ resolution.
Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins of Maine said, “I want to distinguish that I think there is a strong case to be made for tariffs on Mexico; on our adversary, China; but I don't see the case for Canada.”
“Unlike Mexico and China, Canada is not complicit in this crisis, and we should continue working with our Canadian allies to secure the northern border, not unfairly penalize them. Our consumers, our manufacturers, our lobstermen, our blueberry growers, our potato farmers will pay the price,” she said. “The price hikes that will happen for Maine families every time they go to the grocery store, they fill their gas tank, they fill their heating-oil tank, if these tariffs go into effect, will be so harmful. And as price hikes always do, they will hurt those [who] can afford them the least.”
Collins, along with fellow Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul, and former GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, joined with all of their Democratic-voting colleagues in a final vote of 51-48.
The new tariffs announced Wednesday from the White House don’t impact Canada.
The administration on Wednesday also announced it was expanding tariffs on aluminum. Beginning Friday, per the Commerce Department, a 25 percent tariff will be implemented on beer imports, including empty beverage aluminum cans and canned beer.
Small-business leaders are beginning to sound the alarms over the tariffs and their impacts to both owners and consumers.
Bill Butcher, the founder and president of Port City Brewing in Alexandria, Virginia, told reporters on Tuesday, “We fear that it's going to slow our business down. And you know, we're trying to grow our business.”
Butcher said he had to lay off 10 percent of his full-time workforce on Tuesday “just because of the uncertainty and the inability for us to be able to plan our production and our sales.”
He also noted that a tariff impacting malt, which Port City and many other breweries rely on from Canada to make their beer, could cause skyrocketing costs for consumers buying a six-pack of the craft beer, from $12.99 to $18.99. In addition, he said his company has already been impacted by the aluminum tariffs.
“We know we're not going to bottle more, and I'll tell you why,” he continued. “Because the big brewers, they don't want to pay the tariffs either, and so they are shifting a lot of their production back to bottles, away from cans, and they've monopolized the bottle supply in the U.S. So our bottle supplier notified us about three weeks ago that as of today, they can no longer supply us with bottles.
“That's a way that the aluminum tariffs kind of hit us in the back of the head. We truly weren't expecting that,” he said.
Some senators have raised concerns over how the multiple rounds of tariffs may impact the cost of construction and resources that farmers use across the country, and they may seek exemptions.
Sen. Chuck Grassley said, “There’s probably more than one thing, but what I’m hearing is the cost of potash, which is very much an ingredient for raising corn and soybeans, and a 25 percent tariff on that would be very detrimental, so we’re going to have to ask for a waiver.”
Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden said that tariffs “are so, so wildly unpopular.”
“The No. 1 issue is where the second word is ‘bill’—might be a medical bill, might be an electric bill, might be a rent bill. People are concerned about the cost of living, and this is economic poison for individuals and small businesses. And Republican senators go home and can't explain it. You can't defend the indefensible. It's just a bad idea.”
Trump brushed aside all expert predictions that his tariffs will spark a destructive trade war, raise prices for American consumers, and trigger a recession. And his biggest divergence from most economists is his prediction that his tariffs will bring in $6 trillion. In his White House speech Wednesday, Trump said the tariffs could raise “trillions and trillions” of dollars, which he would use to lower taxes and pay down the national debt.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy said no one can predict the impacts of the tariffs. “Supply chains are complicated. The American economy is complicated, and we don't know. Best-case scenario would be that it did lead to economic growth or have no impact at all.... On the other hand, it could lead to some inflation.
“In the long run, I think [the tarrifs] will work. But as I've also said, in the long run, we're all dead. But the short run matters, too.”
George E. Condon Jr. contributed to this article.
