Five Republicans broke ranks and joined all Democrats on Tuesday in a rare rebuke of Trump’s tariffs, voting 52-48 to overturn 50% tariffs on Brazil.
The resolution spearheaded by Democrat Tim Kaine and co-sponsored by Rand Paul to overturn Trump’s made up national emergency is largely symbolic, as the House already passed a measure that would deny any attempt to block tariffs. It would also meet a veto at Trump’s desk.
Tariffs on Brazilian imported products include coffee and beef, which Trump has tied to what he calls a “witch hunt” of his buddy Jair Bolsonaro — who was convicted in September and sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting a military coup in 2022.
“This President has said that their prosecution of a disgraced former politician is a national emergency for the United States. How could that be?” Kaine asked.
Rand Paul told reporters, “Emergencies are like war, famine, tornado. Not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency, it’s an abuse of the emergency power and it is Congress abdicating their traditional role in taxes.”
Former majority leader Turtle McConnell also came out of his shell with a statement on his vote.
“New trade barriers imposed this year have made it harder to sustain the supply chains that let thousands of Kentuckians build cars and appliances in the Commonwealth. Retaliatory tariffs on American products have turned agricultural income upside down for many of Kentucky’s nearly 70,000 family farms. Bourbon has been caught in the crossfire from Day One. And consumers are paying higher prices across the board as the true costs of trade barriers fall inevitably on them.
Protectionists eagerly celebrate the revenue from tariff duties. But they don’t talk nearly as much about how much of that revenue they’ll spend protecting American growers and producers from the avoidable harm of their policies.” –Mitch McConnell
Read Turtle’s full press release here.