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The House of Representatives has voted to overturn Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada in a major criticism of the US President’s signature economic policy.
The Republican-controlled House voted 219-211 on Wednesday in favor of ending the national emergency that Trump invoked to impose tariffs on Canadian imports through February 2025. Six Republicans joined Democrats to support the measure.
The President is likely to veto any anti-tariff legislation that comes to his desk. However, Wednesday’s vote will be seen as a blow to Trump’s efforts to reshape the global trade system and a sign of growing discontent among Republican lawmakers about his aggressive tariff regime heading into the November midterm elections.
Six Republicans voted to overturn the levy on Canada, despite Trump appearing to threaten MPs in a Truth Social post on Wednesday evening. “Any Republican, in the House or Senate, who votes against tariffs will face serious consequences at election time, and that includes primaries!” He posted.
He said, “Tariffs have given us economic and national security and no Republican should be responsible for destroying this privilege.”
Opinion polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of the President’s use of the levy. A Pew poll last week showed that 60 percent of American adults disapprove of tariff increases, including more than a quarter of Republicans.
The duties have caused economic pain in Canada, one of America’s closest allies and its second-largest trading partner. In the past year, Canadians have boycotted American goods and Prime Minister Mark Carney has sought to diversify the country’s trading relationships to eliminate its dependence on the US.
Democratic lawmakers are expected to press for similar votes in the coming weeks to overturn Trump’s tariffs on other countries, including Mexico and Brazil.
The Senate voted separately several times last year to condemn the president’s tariffs on several countries, including Canada and Brazil.
Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks of New York led the charge in Wednesday’s vote.
“The Speaker continues to shirk his responsibilities while ceding Congress’s Article I authority to Donald Trump,” Meeks said in a post on X before the vote, referring to House Speaker Mike Johnson. “Republicans now face a clear choice: go on the record and join Democrats in ending these cost-raising tariffs or continue forcing American families to pay for them.”
Wednesday’s measure came a day after three Republican House members pushed Johnson across party lines to block votes on Trump’s tariffs.
Johnson on Wednesday dismissed the rebellion as “life with a very slim majority,” but warned that weakening Trump’s trade agenda would be a “big mistake” for Republicans.
“I don’t think we need to try to limit the president’s power while he’s negotiating America’s first trade agreements with countries around the world,” Johnson told Fox Business on Wednesday morning ahead of the Canada tariff vote.
“It’s pending in the U.S. Supreme Court,” Johnson said. “This decision could come any day… I think we need to stop Congress from taking a stand on this and not get in the way of the President and what he’s trying to accomplish.”
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the legality of Trump’s tariffs in the coming months. In November the court heard arguments over whether the President has the authority to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose worldwide levies.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate and tax foreign commerce. Trump is the first president to use the IEEPA to impose tariffs.
