Republican leaders are facing a new political dilemma – thanks to the Supreme Court’s devastating blow to President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
The ruling means any future votes on tariffs “will no longer be symbolic” as Congress will now be forced to decide whether to restore the president’s signature policy through legislation, according to Axios.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune must now confront a long-simmering divide inside their party over trade policy. “They’ll be choosing between protecting vulnerable incumbents — and their own narrow majorities — or standing with a president whose help they’ll need in the midterms,” Axios reported Friday.
Johnson praised the tariffs’ impact in a Friday post on X, citing billions in revenue and “immense leverage for America’s trade strategy.”
But the Republican leader stopped short of calling for Congress to formally reinstate Trump’s tariff authority, instead saying it would work with the MAGA administration to find “the best path forward in the coming weeks.
“For most of Trump’s presidency, Johnson has kept his party’s divide on tariffs largely hidden with a procedural trick,” Axios said. But the divide is already on full display, the outlet added.
Several House Republicans recently joined Democrats to repeal tariffs on Canada, while others publicly welcomed the high court’s decision, which, according to Axios, “traps GOP leaders.” They include Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
Democrats, meanwhile, “framed the ruling as a rebuke of executive overreach and a win for consumers,” according to Axios.
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