WASHINGTON — The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on a resolution that would undo the sweeping tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on most countries earlier this month.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., used a legislative procedure to force a vote on the measure, which would terminate the national emergency Trump declared to implement the global tariffs. The resolution requires a simple majority to pass in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
If the measure passes the Senate, it most likely either won’t be taken up or will be voted down in the GOP-led House. Republicans there also recently voted to add a hurdle for lawmakers seeking to quickly take up resolutions related to Trump’s tariff authority. And the White House said Tuesday that Trump would veto the resolution if it reached his desk.
In a 51-48 vote in early April, the Senate approved a similar but more limited resolution that would only block the U.S. tariffs on Canada. Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting for it: Sens. Mitch McConnell and Paul of Kentucky; Susan Collins of Maine; and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Paul said they expect the same Republicans who backed the previous resolution to support the new one.
“They had the votes last time, so we’ll see,” Thune said. “My expectation is, it could be similar in terms of kind of what the vote count is on that.”
Paul said he believes there’s “growing discontent” over Trump’s tariff regime. On the day most took effect earlier this month, Trump abruptly announced that he would pause higher targeted tariffs for most countries for 90 days to allow for negotiations. Meanwhile, Trump raised tariffs on China to 145%.
The expected vote comes on the same day the Commerce Department revealed that the U.S. economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, a development that Trump and White House officials tried to downplay. In response, the president told the public to “BE PATIENT!!!” in a post on Truth Social.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly claimed in recent days that they’ve been making progress in negotiations to reach trade deals with some of the countries that have faced higher U.S. tariffs. But they haven’t disclosed any details and have dodged questions about when exactly announcements could be made about agreements reached.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that countries are calling him to negotiate trade deals and that he is “optimistic” they will settle several of them in the next few weeks, according to two senators who attended the meeting with Greer and Vice President JD Vance.
“He said a lot of countries are now willing to take off their nontariff trade barriers, which are pretty significant,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said after the lunch.
Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., criticized the senators who planned to force a vote on the resolution Wednesday, saying that it’s wasting time.
“They know it’s not going to go anywhere, they know it’s not going to become law,” Barrasso told NBC News on Tuesday. “All they’re trying to do is slow down the process, preventing us from getting more members of the president’s leadership team confirmed and in place.”
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also unveiled a bill targeting Trump’s tariffs, but rather than halting them immediately, the measure would make the tariffs expire after 60 days unless Congress voted to explicitly approve them.
“I think the only thing that keeps us from growing bigger is that sort of the Grassley bill is an off-ramp for people who want to symbolically oppose the tariffs but don’t want to, in reality, stop them,” Paul said. “And they might want to, but they’re not willing to vote to stop them.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who faces a tough re-election race next year, said he’s continuing to work with Grassley on his legislation, but wouldn’t support the measure from Paul and Wyden.
“It’s a political exercise,” Tillis said. “It has no hope in them in the House, and I don’t do messaging bills.”
