US Senate demands a say in Trump’s trade war decisions in mass protest vote over steel and aluminium tariffs
In a non-binding measure, the Republican-led Senate insisted on ‘a role for Congress’ in any invocation of national security
The US Senate voted resoundingly on Wednesday to seek a congressional role in some of US President Donald Trump’s tariff decisions, a symbolic rebuke reflecting growing Republican alarm over the president’s trade war.
The 88-11 vote came on a non-binding procedural measure asserting “a role for Congress” when Trump imposes tariffs in the name of national security, as he has done on steel and aluminium imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
The provision is toothless, but it represents the first concrete step by Republicans toward reining in a protectionist agenda that has upended decades of the party’s dogma in support of free trade.
Republicans have spent months wringing their hands over Trump’s trade moves and arguing against them in public and private, but have failed to do anything to stop them.
The measure was the second symbolic vote taken by the Senate against the Trump administration’s actions in as many days.