A Senate vote to reverse Trump's tariffs on Canada tests Republican support

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A Senate vote to reverse Trump's tariffs on Canada tests Republican support

2025-04-02 03:58 Last Updated At：04:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — With President Donald Trump's so-called “Liberation Day” of tariff implementation fast approaching, Senate Democrats are putting Republican support for some of those plans to the test by forcing a vote to nullify the emergency declaration that underpins the tariffs on Canada.

Republicans have watched with some unease as the president's attempts to remake global trade have sent the stock market downward, but they have so far stood by Trump's on-again-off-again threats to levy taxes on imported goods.

Even as the resolution from Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia offered them a potential off-ramp to the tariffs levied on Canadian imports, Republican leaders were trying to keep senators in line by focusing on fentanyl that comes into the U.S. over its northern border. It was yet another example of how Trump is not only reorienting global economics, but upending his party's longtime support for ideas like free trade.

“I really relish giving my Republican colleagues the chance to not just say they're concerned, but actually take an action to stop these tariffs,” Kaine told The Associated Press in an interview last week.

Kaine's resolution would end the emergency declaration that Trump signed in February to implement tariffs on Canada as punishment for not doing enough to halt the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S. If the Senate passes the resolution, it would still need to be taken up by the Republican-controlled House.

A small fraction of the fentanyl that comes into the U.S. enters from Canada. Customs and Border Protection seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the northern border during the 2024 fiscal year, and since January, authorities have seized less than 1.5 pounds, according to federal data. Meanwhile, at the southern border, authorities seized over 21,000 pounds last year.

Democrats warned that tariffs on Canadian goods would ripple through the economy, making it more expensive to build homes, outfit military ships and pay for daily goods.

“These tariffs are a tax increase on American families — plain and simple,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. He argued that the increased costs for American households were being done “simply to give a tax cut to Trump's billionaire friends.”

Schumer said he agrees with taking on China “which really has hurt us in trade every step of the way.” But the tariffs don’t make sense for an ally whose economy is so interconnected with the U.S. economy. He added the tariffs are creating uncertainty with businesses and consumers.

At a news conference Tuesday, Kaine said fentanyl trafficking is an emergency, but that the emergency stems from China and Mexico, not Canada. He said Trump invented a “made-up emergency” to help pay for extending tax cuts that he said primarily benefit the wealthy.

“How are they going to pay for it? Massive cuts in programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and tariffs imposed on the backs of everyday Americans,” Kaine said.

Still, Trump has claimed that the amount of fentanyl coming from Canada is “massive" and pledged to follow through by executing tariffs Wednesday.

“We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge,” Trump said on social media Tuesday.

Still, a few of Republicans have indicated they are considering voting for the legislation, which would need just a simple majority to pass the Senate.

Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said she was still examining the bill, yet added she supported its “intent” because “Canadian tariffs are disastrous for the state of Maine.”

“Canada’s our friends and our ally, and this is not China we’re talking about. It’s not an adversarial nation. It’s our biggest trading partner, and this just makes no sense,” she added.

Republican leaders in the Senate have signaled they aren't exactly fans of tariffs, but argued that Trump is using them as a negotiating tool.

“I think all of us are anxious to see — and we'll wait to see — what the president actually comes out with in terms of tariff policy tomorrow, but I don't think that should change people's vote,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters at the Capitol.

He added that the emergency declaration was made to “deal with the flow of fentanyl.”

While Trump's close allies in the Senate were standing steadfastly by the idea of remaking the U.S. economy through tariffs, others have begun openly voicing their dissatisfaction with trade wars that could disrupt industries and raise prices on autos, groceries, housing and other goods.

“I’m keeping a close eye on all these tariffs because oftentimes the first folks that are hurt in a trade war are your farmers and ranchers,” said Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana Republican.

Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said he would prefer to see the U.S. and its trading partners move to remove all tariffs on each other, but he conceded that Trump's tariff threats had injected uncertainty into global markets.

“We’re in uncharted waters,” Kennedy told reporters. “Nobody knows what the impact of these tariffs is going to be.”

Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed reporting.

Swollen rivers flood towns in US South after dayslong deluge of rain

2025-04-07 21:40 Last Updated At：21:51

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Days of unrelenting heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people worsened flooding as some rivers rose to near-record levels and inundated towns across an already saturated U.S. South and parts of the Midwest.

Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.

“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said salon owner Jessica Tuggle, who was watching Monday as murky brown water approached her business in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital along the swollen Kentucky River.

She said that as each new wave of rain arrived over the weekend, anxious residents hoped for a reprieve so they could just figure out how bad things would get and how to prepare. She and friends packed up everything she could haul out of her salon, including styling chairs, hair products and electronics, and they took it all to a nearby tap house up the hill.

“Everybody was just ‘stop raining, stop raining’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.

Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city as the river was expected to approach a record crest on Monday.

For many, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.

“As long as I’ve been alive — and I’m 52 — this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Wendy Quire, the general manager at the Brown Barrel restaurant downtown.

“The rain just won’t stop,” Quire said Sunday. “It’s been nonstop for days and days.”

The 18 reported deaths since the storms began on Wednesday included 10 in Tennessee. A 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.

The National Weather Service warned Sunday that dozens of locations in multiple states were expected to reach a “major flood stage,” with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.

In north-central Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for Falmouth and Butler, towns near the bend of the rising Licking River. Thirty years ago, the river reached a record 50 feet (15 meters), resulting in five deaths and 1,000 homes destroyed.

The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double the level of a decade ago.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

The NWS said 5.06 inches (nearly 13 centimeters) of rain fell Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS said.

Rives, a northwestern Tennessee town of about 200 people, was almost entirely underwater after the Obion River overflowed.

Domanic Scott went to check on his father in Rives after not hearing from him in a house where water reached the doorstep.

“It’s the first house we’ve ever paid off. The insurance companies around here won’t give flood insurance to anyone who lives in Rives because we’re too close to the river and the levees. So if we lose it, we’re kind of screwed without a house,” Scott said.

In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people arrived over the weekend at a storm shelter near a public school clutching blankets, pillows and other necessities. Just days earlier the city was hit by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.

For some, grabbing the essentials also meant taking a closer look at the liquor cabinet.

In Frankfort, with water rising up to his window sills, resident Bill Jones fled his home in a boat, which he loaded with several boxes of bottles of bourbon.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in New York; Kimberlee Kruesi, in Nashville; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Adrian Sainz in Memphis; Tennessee; Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Obed Lamy in Rives, Tennessee; and Sophia Tareen in Chicago.