WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House voted Wednesday to terminate President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada as six GOP lawmakers joined Democrats in a largely symbolic rebuke of the administration's trade policy.
The measure passed in a 219-211 vote. Only one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, opposed it.
The joint resolution, led by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., will now head to the Senate for consideration.
Trump threatened political retribution Wednesday for any Republicans who oppose his tariff policies.
“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” Trump said on Truth Social around the time of the House vote.
The House Republicans who voted for the resolution included Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Kevin Kiley of California, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Dan Newhouse of Washington, Jeff Hurd of Colorado and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
Not everyone in that group needs to worry about Trump's electoral threat: Bacon and Newhouse are not seeking re-election, and Trump has already backed Massie's primary challenger.
Hurd defended his vote in a post Wednesday.
"If we normalize broad emergency trade powers today, we should expect that a future president—of either party—will rely on the same authority in ways many of us would strongly oppose," he said. "My responsibility is to defend the separation of powers regardless of political convenience."
Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods last year after invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He then threatened different tariff amounts throughout the past year over certain political demands. Most recently, he threatened to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if it went ahead with a trade deal with China.
The president has made tariffs a key component of his second term, arguing they benefit domestic manufacturing and extend to other areas like national security.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters he was "disappointed" by Wednesday's vote, but that it wouldn't change Trump's trade policy.
“The president has veto power, and there’s not a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override the veto, so it’s not going to change the policy in the end anyway," he said. "I think this is a fruitless exercise and a pointless one.”
House Republicans last year passed a measure that prevented the chamber from canceling the president's tariffs, but that prohibition expired at the end of January. On Tuesday night, Republicans tried and failed to extend the ban until late July.
That opened the door to the vote against tariffs on Canada.
Three Republicans opposed the extension Tuesday: Massie, Kiley and Bacon, who explained that vote on X.
“Congress needs to be able to debate on tariffs,” Bacon said. “Article I of the Constitution places authority over taxes and tariffs with Congress for a reason, but for too long, we have handed that authority to the executive branch."
