Senate to vote on ending the emergency declaration that gives Trump tariff powers

The Senate is set to vote as soon as Wednesday evening on a resolution terminating the national emergency that President Trump has used to impose his across-the-board tariffs.

GOP leaders are working to defeat the measure, which would cut off the president’s authority for imposing 10% tariffs on all imported goods and “reciprocal” tariffs on individual countries that he announced earlier this month then paused for 90 days.

The vote may succeed, as the four Republicans who backed a similar resolution related to earlier tariffs on Canada are likely to support this broader measure.

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, teamed up with Democrats on both resolutions and said he expects this vote to end the more sweeping tariffs to be similar to the previously successful 51-48 vote narrowly tailored to the tariffs on Canada.

However, neither measure will become law, because Mr. Trump has threatened a veto and House Republicans are not planning to take up the measures.

Resolutions terminating national emergencies are privileged in Congress, which means any member can force a vote, as is happening in the Senate. But House GOP leaders used a procedural gimmick to prevent similar action in the lower chamber through September.

Senate GOP leaders have been willing to give Mr. Trump time to negotiate trade deals that could end some of the tariffs and have urged their members to oppose the resolution when it comes up for a vote.

Mr. Paul told The Washington Times that most Republicans have already made up their minds and he’s not expecting much, if any, more support than he received on the vote to terminate the tariffs on Canada.

“I’d say half of the caucus or more is for protectionism and thinks it’s good policy,” he said. “About half believe in less tariffs, more free trade. But of them, there’s only four or five of us that are willing to vote against the emergency rule. And the others are quiet for fear of going against Trump.”

Mr. Paul opposes tariffs because he views them as a tax on the American consumer.

Other Republicans share that concern but the only ones who voted with him to terminate the tariffs on Canada were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Ms. Collins said Tuesday that she had not made a final decision on how she’d vote on the resolution to terminate the across-the-board tariff power.

Mr. McConnell smiled when The Times asked whether he planned to support the resolution but did not provide a verbal response. He rarely speaks to reporters in the hallways of the Capitol.

The Times reached out to Ms. Murkowski’s office for comment.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, is leading the resolution with Mr. Paul.

Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat who led the previous resolution to terminate the tariffs on Canada, said he hopes more Republicans vote for this one after hearing constituent feedback on the tariffs over the two-week Easter and Passover recess.

“I was traveling in the red zones in Virginia hearing nonstop the challenges that people see,” he said. “It’s tariffs, but it’s also chaos. ’We’re starting. We’re stopping. We’re delaying. You can apply for a waiver. You can apply for an exception.’ Businesses are telling me we want to invest, but we’re not going to make investments as long as the rules are TBD.”

Sen. Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican, said his constituents are also telling him they would like to see some certainty in what the tariffs will be so they can make business decisions.

He said he is not inclined to support Mr. Paul’s resolution, although he believes Congress may need to step in at some point to assert its authority over tariff policy.