House votes to end Trump’s Canada tariffs

House Speaker Mike Johnson — The Congressional Budget Office said Americans are paying 95% of the tariff burden (Image credit: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images)

What happened

The House Wednesday voted 219-211 to rescind President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, with six Republicans joining all but one Democrat to pass the resolution. The Senate passed similar measures last year, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had blocked such votes in his chamber for the past year through a procedural move that expired last month. Three Republicans joined Democrats on Tuesday to defeat Johnson’s effort to renew the blockade on tariff votes until August.

Who said what

Wednesday’s resolution would rescind the “national emergency” of fentanyl smuggling that Trump declared last year to justify slapping import taxes on Canada. As Johnson’s team was leaning on GOP defectors to switch their vote, Trump warned on social media that “any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!”

The rebuke of the president’s signature economic policy was a “rare instance of GOP defections at a time when Trump still maintains a strong grip over the party,” CNN said. But “Trump’s tariffs have proven politically unpopular,” even among many “self-identified MAGA Republicans,” Politico said. A Pew Research Center survey this month found that 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s import taxes. The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that Americans are paying 95% of the tariff burden.

What next?

The Senate now “must vote on the issue again,” and a “simple majority vote” would send the measure to Trump, The Wall Street Journal said. The resolution “stands a good chance of passage in the Senate,” Reuters said, but there aren’t enough GOP votes to override Trump’s certain veto. Still, “it won’t be the last tough tariffs vote for Trump,” CNN said. “Democrats have successfully unlocked a procedural power to force more votes.”

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.