BREAKING: Bipartisan measure to undo Trump’s tariffs fails in Senate vote
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WASHINGTON — A bipartisan measure that sought to undo the sweeping tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on most countries earlier this month failed in the GOP-led Senate on Wednesday.
The vote ended in a tie, 49-49, with three Republicans — Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — joining all Democrats present in support of the resolution, which was designed to terminate the national emergency Trump declared to implement his global tariffs.
Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., who voiced support for the measure, were absent for the vote. It needed a simple majority to pass.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Paul used a legislative procedure to force a vote on the measure in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority.
Even if it passed, the measure likely wouldn’t have been taken up in the GOP-controlled House. Republicans there recently voted to add a hurdle for lawmakers seeking to quickly take up resolutions related to Trump’s tariff authority. The White House also said Tuesday that Trump would veto the resolution if it reached his desk.
In a 51-48 vote in early April, the Senate approved a similar but more limited resolution that aimed to block the U.S. tariffs on Canada. The same three Republicans who joined with Democrats Wednesday, along with McConnell, voted for that measure, too, offering a rare rebuke of Trump.
On the day most took effect earlier this month, Trump abruptly announced that he would pause higher targeted tariffs for most countries for 90 days to allow for negotiations. Meanwhile, Trump raised tariffs on China to 145%.
The vote came the same day the Commerce Department revealed that the U.S. economy contracted 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, a development that Trump and White House officials tried to downplay. In response, the president told the public to “BE PATIENT!!!” in a post on Truth Social.
Trump administration officials have repeatedly claimed in recent days that they’ve been making progress in negotiations to reach trade deals with some of the countries that have faced higher U.S. tariffs. But they haven’t disclosed any details and have dodged questions about when exactly announcements could be made about agreements reached.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that countries are calling him to negotiate trade deals and that he is “optimistic” they will settle several of them in the next few weeks, according to two senators who attended the meeting with Greer and Vice President JD Vance.
Senate GOP Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., criticized the senators who forced a vote on the resolution Wednesday, saying that it’s wasting time.
“They know it’s not going to go anywhere, they know it’s not going to become law,” Barrasso told NBC News on Tuesday. “All they’re trying to do is slow down the process, preventing us from getting more members of the president’s leadership team confirmed and in place.”
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also unveiled a bill targeting Trump’s tariffs, but rather than halting them immediately, the measure would make the tariffs expire after 60 days unless Congress voted to explicitly approve them.
“I think the only thing that keeps us from growing bigger is that sort of the Grassley bill is an off-ramp for people who want to symbolically oppose the tariffs but don’t want to, in reality, stop them,” Paul said. “And they might want to, but they’re not willing to vote to stop them.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who faces a tough re-election race next year, said he’s continuing to work with Grassley on his legislation, but didn’t support the measure from Paul and Wyden.
“It’s a political exercise,” Tillis said. “It has no hope in them in the House, and I don’t do messaging bills.”
Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.
Frank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.
Kate Santaliz is an associate producer for NBC News’ Capitol Hill team.
Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.
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