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The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday aimed at reversing President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada after several Republicans joined Democrats for a rare rebuke of the GOP commander in chief.
Democrats successfully got a vote on a measure to reverse Trump’s national emergency at the northern border using a mechanism for forcing votes over the objections of House majority leadership called a privileged resolution.
The six Republicans who voted in favor of the measure are Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., Don Bacon, R-Neb., Jeff Hurd, R-Colo., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.
One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, voted with the majority of Republicans on the matter. It passed 219-211.
TRUMP’S TARIFFS COULD BE UNDONE BY ONE CONSERVATIVE DOCTRINE: ‘LIFE OR DEATH’
As the vote was on the verge of succeeding, Trump issued a warning to Republicans who defied him.
“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 posted on Truth Social.
Kiley told Fox News Digital when asked for a response to Trump, “This was a resolution regarding the emergency declared by the president over fentanyl from Canada. Congress has an obligation under the National Emergencies Act to evaluate every six months if the emergency still exists. Canada has now significantly cracked down on fentanyl, so there’s no basis to extend the emergency another six months.”
Meanwhile Hurd told Fox News Digital that his constituents were “directly affected by these policies.”
“Today’s vote is grounded first and foremost in the Constitution. Article I gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce with foreign nations and to levy tariffs. Over time, Congress has delegated limited authority to the Executive Branch, particularly in matters involving national emergencies. But those delegations were never intended to serve as a permanent vehicle for sweeping, long-term trade policy,” he also said.
“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. Institutional consistency matters. The Constitution does not shift depending on who occupies the White House. My responsibility is to defend the separation of powers regardless of political convenience.”
Trump signed an executive order in February 2025, enacting an additional 25% tariff on most goods from Canada and Mexico. Energy from Canada was subject to an additional 15% tariff.
At the time, the White House said it was punishment for those countries’ unwillingness to do more to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs into the U.S.
Opponents of Trump’s tariff strategy have criticized his moves against Canada in particular, arguing it was unjustly harming one of the U.S.’s closest allies and trading partners to the detriment of Americans themselves.
TRUMP’S SIGNATURE TARIFFS HANG ON KEY QUESTION ABOUT CONGRESS’ POWER BEFORE SUPREME COURT
“In the last year, tariffs have cost American families nearly $1,700. And that cost is expected to increase in 2026,” Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., who is leading the legislation, said during debate Wednesday.
“And since these tariffs were imposed, U.S. exports to Canada have fallen by more than 21%. When I go home, my constituents aren’t telling me that they have an extra $1,700 to spare. They’re asking me to lower grocery prices, lower the price of healthcare and make life more affordable.
“Canada is our friend. Canada is our ally. Canadians have fought alongside Americans, whether it was in World War II or the war in Afghanistan, where 165 Canadians gave their lives after our country was attacked. There is no national emergency, there is no national security threat underpinning these threats.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., argued the text of the resolution itself would end a national emergency related to fentanyl.
“The gentleman over here, 5,000 people per year die in his state alone from fentanyl,” Mast said of Meeks. “So, if he wants to beg the question of who’s going to pay the price of him trying to end an emergency, that actually, for the first time, has Canada dealing with fentanyl because of the pressure being put on them — who’s going to pay the price? It’s going to be 5,000 more of his state’s residents. That’s who’s going to pay the price.”
SUPREME COURT TARIFF RULING HAS TRUMP ADMIN, US BUSINESSES BRACING FOR IMPACT
He said the resolution was “not a debate about tariffs” but rather Democrats trying to “ignore that there is a fentanyl crisis.”
The resolution was filed by Democrats months ago but was put on hold by an active measure by House GOP leaders that blocked the House from reversing Trump’s emergency declarations.
The president has used emergency declarations to bypass Congress on the subject of tariffs, a move that has drawn mixed reviews from Capitol Hill.
But that measure expired last month, and House GOP leaders’ bid to extend it through July 31 crashed and burned Tuesday night when three Republicans joined Democrats to oppose it.
“It is time for Congress to make its voice heard on tariffs,” Bacon, one of the Republicans who voted in opposition to the Trump policy Tuesday and Wednesday, told Fox News Digital.
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The legislation now heads to the Senate, which has voted in the past to restrict Trump’s tariff authority.
Even if it succeeds there, however, it’s likely to be vetoed the president.
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