Six Republicans joined Wednesday night with Democrats to end President Donald Trump’s stepped-up tariffs on Canada, voting to rebuke the president in the first of what could be several congressional challenges to his trade policies.
The measure is largely symbolic and is not likely to succeed in overturning tariffs on the major U.S. trading partner, because Trump could veto the resolution if it clears the Senate as well. It would require a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to override his veto.
But the action showcases the long-standing frustration some congressional Republicans have had with Trump’s controversial trade policies, and it’s the latest evidence of the difficulties House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is having managing his razor-thin majority.
The resolution from Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-New York) would end the “national emergency” underpinning Trump’s tariffs on Canada, which were first announced in February 2025. Wednesday was the first time that the House has considered a challenge to Trump’s tariffs. The Republican-controlled chamber had used procedural moves to preemptively muzzle opposition to the administration’s trade policy since March.
“Will you vote to lower the cost of living for the American families? Or will you keep prices high out of loyalty to one person?” Meeks said in a floor speech ahead of the vote Wednesday afternoon, arguing that the tariffs have pushed costs up for consumers.
The latest prohibition on voting on legislation to challenge Trump’s tariffs expired at the end of January, and Johnson attempted to renew it through July as part of a procedural vote Tuesday night. The House rejected that attempt, opening the controversial policy up for reversals for the first time in nearly a year.
Sixty percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s increased tariffs, while 37 percent say they approve, according to a February survey from the Pew Research Center.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the House’s action, but the administration has argued that the tariffs are necessary to rebalance trade deficits and incentivize U.S.-based manufacturing, though manufacturing employment has declined since April.
Three House Republicans — Thomas Massie (Kentucky), Don Bacon (Nebraska) and Kevin Kiley (California) — voted with all of the chamber’s Democrats to block the prohibition Tuesday.
The Senate has previously voted to end the administration’s tariffs on multiple occasions, but those efforts couldn’t move forward under the House’s ban on considering such measures.
Most Canadian products that do not qualify for tariff-free treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which Trump signed in his first term, are subject to a 35 percent tariff.
Trump imposed the tariffs that the House disapproved Wednesday in response to what he described as Canada’s failure to prevent the flow of illicit opioids and other drugs into the United States.
But the president’s broader objective with his tariff campaign is boosting domestic manufacturing production and hiring.
The results so far are mixed. Factory output is up about 2.5 percent since Trump returned to the White House, but it remains below levels reached under President Joe Biden.
The number of factory jobs increased in January for the first time in more than a year. But the paltry 5,000-person increase did little to offset the earlier manufacturing shrinkage that defied the president’s “America First” ambitions.
Manufacturing now employs 313,000 fewer Americans than it did three years ago at the Biden-era peak of 12.9 million in early 2023. Since April, when Trump declared a national emergency over the trade deficit and imposed his historic import taxes, 72,000 factory positions have vanished.
Administration officials insist that the economy this year will surge. Trump has said that tariffs are the key to his promised “Golden Age,” saying they will encourage new investment in manufacturing and provide the federal government with more revenue.
Importers have paid more than $133 billion in Trump’s emergency tariffs, including $2.4 billion on products from Canada, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The president claims that foreigners pay these costs, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claims that overseas manufacturers are absorbing tariff costs to maintain their foothold in the U.S. market.
Most independent assessments disagree, finding that American companies and consumers are paying the price.
“Higher tariffs directly increase the cost of imported goods, raising prices for U.S. consumers and businesses,” the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday in its latest assessment of the U.S. economy.
Americans are paying 95 percent of the tariffs, while foreign companies swallow the remainder, the independent budget office said.
The CBO analysis echoed the findings of a December study by economists at Harvard University and the University of Chicago, which concluded that 94 percent of the tariffs imposed last year were passed on to U.S. importers.
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