Congress
Senate Democrats to force vote next week on Trump’s fentanyl tariffs on Canada
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on a Democratic resolution aimed at blocking President Donald Trump from using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canada, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said Friday.
“Fortunately, the National Emergencies Act of 1976 included a provision allowing any senator to force a vote to block emergency powers being abused by the president. I will be pulling that procedural lever to challenge Trump’s Canada tariffs early next week,” Kaine said in an op-ed published Friday in the Washington Post.
Trump declared on Feb. 1 that the threat posed by fentanyl and undocumented migration from Canada, Mexico and China constituted a national emergency that justified the use of tariffs to pressure the three countries to take action to respond. His use of the emergency powers law to impose tariffs is unprecedented, although that legislation gives the president broad authority to impose sanctions in times of emergency.
Since then, Trump has imposed a 20 percent tariff on imports from China and a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico. He subsequently paused the tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods that comply with the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement’s rules of origin.
However, those tariffs on Canada and Mexico snap back into place next week unless Trump reaches a deal with the countries to further suspend them.
“This Administration is igniting a reckless trade war and regular Americans are paying the price,” Klobuchar said in a joint statement with Kaine. “Costs for everyone will go up and our farmers and businesses will suffer. Canada is Minnesota’s top trading partner and is a key U.S. ally. We must reverse these damaging tariffs before it’s too late.”
In a sign of potentially better relations with Canada, Trump spoke with the country’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, for the first time Friday.
“It was an extremely productive call,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We agree on many things, and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada.”
Trump continued in the same vein at a White House event on Friday. “We had a very good talk, the prime minister and myself and I think things are going to work out very well with Canada and the United States,” Trump said.
But he also told reporters he “absolutely” would strike back if Canada retaliates against any of the tariffs that he imposes next week.
Next week’s Senate vote would only end the national emergency with regard to Canada, a staunch U.S. ally that Trump has repeatedly denigrated by calling it the 51st state. It would put Republicans in the potentially awkward position of voting against Trump over his use of tariffs.
The vote also would take place one day before Trump is set to announce a new set of “reciprocal” tariffs on potentially all trading partners, including Canada, Mexico and China, as well as others in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
Earlier this month, House Republicans slipped language into a House rule on their stopgap funding bill that would prevent any member of Congress from bringing up a resolution terminating Trump’s declaration of a national emergency over fentanyl and undocumented immigrants entering the U.S.
However, proponents hope Senate approval of the measure crafted by Kaine, Klobuchar and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) would put pressure on House Republicans to act.
President Donald Trump and top White House officials are privately lobbying Republican senators to delay a ban on intoxicating hemp that’s set to kick in this fall.
At the Trump administration’s urging, the government funding patch the Senate is working to pass this week would push off the forthcoming ban of some cannabis products derived from hemp. But several Republican senators are demanding a vote to strip the delay out and let that prohibition kick in come November.
They’re hearing from the White House about it.
Trump called Sen. Ted Budd on Tuesday night, after the North Carolina Republican filed an amendment to ensure the ban kicks in as mandated on Nov. 12, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to describe the private discussion. On the call, the president discussed creating a federal regulatory framework for hemp but did not ask Budd to withdraw his amendment, the individual added.
“I’ve been asked by lots of people to stand down on this amendment,” Budd told reporters Wednesday.
Budd noted that the Trump administration has had almost nine months to come up with a plan for implementing the ban.
“So why all of a sudden pop up for some seemingly innocent delay?” he asked, accusing the White House of instead preparing to “jam this on some must-pass” funding package at year’s end to further delay the prohibition.
A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the private debate said the Trump administration is seeking “a modest four-week delay” through the Dec. 11 expiration of the funding patch “to allow for productive conversations to continue.” Some synthetic cannabis products would be permanently banned in the meantime, the official added.
The administration lobbying has successfully swayed some Senate Republicans, such as Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who said in an interview that “the White House has committed to me that they’re committed to regulate the industry.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of hemp-rich Kentucky said the issue came up “in a big way” during Senate Republicans’ private lunch meeting Wednesday. Paul said he spoke in support of delaying the ban and said those arguing for a delay “aren’t very rational.”
“They’re wanting to hold up the funding for the government over one month,” he said. “It’s kind of insane.”
Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is in the Capitol meeting with holdout GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiania as he tries to lock down their support for his confirmation as permanent leader of the Justice Department.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) declined to respond directly Wednesday to Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to denounce his former son-in-law Rep. Max Miller over abuse accusations leveled by Moreno’s daughter: “These aren’t accusations in my world,” he said.
“In my world, this is the reality,” Moreno told reporters at the Capitol. “This is not something that is theoretical to me. This is my lived reality of my daughter and my family every single solitary day.”
In an interview with Dasha Burns for Blue Light News’s The Conversation, Johnson declined to take sides in the dispute between Miller (R-Ohio) and Emily Moreno. He called for a House Ethics probe to “play out.”
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