Late Wednesday, the Senate voted to oppose President Donald Trump’s authority to levy tariffs on Canada, marking what some might see as a rare public disagreement with the president, just as he revealed bold new trade restrictions.
In a 51-48 vote, the Senate approved a measure to repeal Trump’s emergency declaration on fentanyl, the legal basis for his tariffs against Canada.
Earlier in the day, Trump had declared a new “Liberation Day” initiative, unveiling tariffs aimed at several foreign nations, though Canadian goods were temporarily excluded from the new restrictions.
Although the Senate resolution is unlikely to pass in the Republican-majority House or receive the president’s signature, it highlighted divisions within the GOP over Trump’s approach to reshaping the American economy through protectionist trade measures.
Business leaders and economists have expressed concern that Trump’s tariff-heavy strategy might trigger a downturn, and Republican lawmakers are increasingly wary as the former president redefines the country’s global alliances and trade partnerships.
Trump also took to singling out four GOP senators — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Rand Paul of Kentucky — who voted in favor of curbing his ability to impose tariffs on Canadian imports.
Posting on social media around 1 a.m., Trump wrote that the four 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.”
The former president has defended the tariffs by accusing Canada of failing to prevent illegal drugs from flowing across the northern border. While border officials confiscated 43 pounds of fentanyl from that area in 2024, recent data shows only 1.5 pounds seized since January. Still, Trump continues to highlight the issue as a justification for his actions.
In contrast, fentanyl seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border reached over 21,000 pounds last year.
“This is not about fentanyl. It’s about tariffs. It’s about a national sales tax on American families,” said Senator Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat who authored the resolution, during a press conference.
Democrats claimed Trump’s tariff plan was a way to fund tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of ordinary Americans, potentially driving up the cost of housing materials and consumer goods. Kaine specifically cited aluminum from Canada, which is essential to a wide range of industries, from food production to shipbuilding.
“Today, Donald Trump takes a sledgehammer to the American economy and even to the American dream,” declared Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in a speech on the Senate floor.
Following mixed election results in key battleground states like Wisconsin and Florida, Schumer warned that the economic implications of Trump’s policies could further erode support among voters.
“Once the American people say, ‘I don’t want to embrace somebody, I don’t want to vote for somebody, I don’t want to support somebody who embraces Trump’s policies,’ things are going to change,” Schumer told the press. “Public sentiment is everything.”
Speaking at the White House, Trump labeled Canada as taking advantage of what he described as unbalanced trade practices with the U.S., though his new order did not add fresh tariffs to those already levied on Canada and Mexico.
“Why are we doing this? I mean, at what point do we say, ‘You’ve got to work for yourselves and you’ve got to’? This is why we have the big deficits,” Trump said.
Shortly after Trump’s remarks, Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, pledged to force a similar vote in the House.
“Republicans can’t keep ducking this — it’s time they show whether they support the economic pain Trump is inflicting on their constituents,” he posted on social media.
Meanwhile, GOP leadership sought to rally Republicans against the Senate resolution by emphasizing Trump’s intent to fight fentanyl trafficking and address border vulnerabilities, along with correcting trade imbalances.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso spoke on the floor, asserting that President Biden had “also thrown open the northern border. The criminal cartels noticed and they took advantage.”
“There are unique threats to the United States at our northern border,” said the Wyoming senator. “President Trump is taking the bold, decisive, swift action that is necessary to secure that border as well.”
Republican senators echoed the urgency of stemming fentanyl trafficking during floor speeches Wednesday, although several key GOP members opposed using tariffs on Canada as a tactic.
Senator Collins explained her vote for the resolution by highlighting that “The fact is the vast majority of fentanyl in America comes from the southern border.”
She argued that Canada is already stepping up its border enforcement, and voiced concern that tariffs could damage Maine’s economy — especially a local paper mill that imports pulp from Canada.
“A tariff placed on this pulp would jeopardize the financial wellbeing of this vital paper mill, which employs more than 500 people in rural, northern Maine. There is not another big employer in that area that can possibly compensate for the loss of those 510 direct jobs,” Collins said.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who often champions limited government and free-market principles, also backed the resolution, criticizing the executive’s authority to impose tariffs unilaterally.
“Every dollar collected in tariff revenue comes straight out of the pockets of American consumers,” Paul said. “Conservatives used to understand that tariffs are taxes on the American people. Conservatives used to be uniformly opposed to raising taxes because we wanted the private marketplace, the private individuals to keep more of their income.”
Though a faction of younger Republicans strongly supports Trump’s efforts to reshape the economy with aggressive trade policies, a notable portion of the GOP expressed reservations about how these tariffs could affect American agriculture and other key industries.
Still, many Republicans refrained from outright opposition, hoping instead that Trump could use the threat of tariffs to secure more favorable trade terms.
Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said he had ongoing discussions with both Canadian officials and local companies like Bobcat, which depends heavily on Canadian sales. While he did not back the Senate resolution, he expressed hope that Trump’s announcement would open the door to negotiations aimed at mutually removing tariffs.
“I’m not overly concerned about it, but obviously it occupies a lot of attention and time and a lot of political anxiety,” Cramer said.
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