Senate absences torpedo rejection of Trump tariffs

WASHINGTON (CN) — Senate Republican leadership on Wednesday successfully defeated a bipartisan measure that would have represented yet another congressional rejection of the Donald Trump administration’s new tariff regime.

But it wasn’t political or policy rifts that doomed the proposed resolution — the absence of a key Democratic lawmaker on his way back from an environmental conference abroad led to its demise.

If passed in both chambers of Congress, the bipartisan measure sponsored by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul would have papered over sweeping global tariffs unveiled by the White House earlier this month. Senators recently approved a similar resolution rejecting a separate set of import duties against Canada.

This time, it looked as though the resolution knocking down Trump’s most recent slate of tariffs also had enough support to pass. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Maine Senator Susan Collins both indicated that they would vote in favor of the measure. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who backed the Canada tariffs resolution, was also expected to vote for Wyden’s measure.

And Senate Majority Leader John Thune signaled to reporters Tuesday that he believed the resolution would pass, pointing to the success of the Canada measure and saying that his expectation for the current measure was “similar.”

But hopes of passing the resolution were dashed Wednesday evening, as Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was absent and unable to cast his vote. The measure failed on a 49-49 vote, failing to reach the simple majority it needed to pass.

Whitehouse was on his way back to the U.S. from South Korea, where he had attended the 2025 Our Oceans conference, an international environmental summit dedicated to ocean conservation. And McConnell, absent from the day’s votes, also did not arrive to cast his ballot.

Even if the resolution had passed in the Senate, it likely would have been dead on arrival in the House. The lower chamber’s most recent rules package includes language that forbids lawmakers from considering any measure that would roll back the Trump administration’s tariffs regime.

The House is already sitting on the Senate-passed resolution to reject the White House’s Canada tariffs and appears unlikely to hold a vote on the measure. And the Trump administration has come out hard against efforts to scuttle its trade agenda, arguing such action from Congress would “undermine” its authority.

Meanwhile, Senate lawmakers are exploring other avenues for holding Trump’s feet to the fire on his tariff regime.

A pair of bipartisan senators — Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Maria Cantwell of Washington state — unveiled earlier this month a bill aimed at reaffirming Congress’ role in setting trade policy. The measure would set up guardrails on the president’s power to unilaterally impose tariffs and require the White House to notify lawmakers within 48 hours of enacting such import duties.

The bill would also set any new tariffs to expire in 60 days unless Congress passes a joint resolution approving them, and gives lawmakers the power to choke off the tariffs at any point.

Trump’s tariffs, introduced during remarks at the White House during which the president said the U.S. had been “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered” by foreign countries, slapped a blanket 10% import tax on most goods, as well as additional levies on imports from a shorter list of countries.

But in recent weeks, the administration has waffled on its global trade war amid a stock market freefall and plummeting Trump approval ratings.

And the administration has even pared away at some of its own provisions. Trump has said that he would pause the enforcement of certain tariffs and has suggested that he could roll back some of his massive import taxes on Chinese goods if Beijing is willing to negotiate.

Meanwhile, the White House also confirmed reports that it would implement a carve-out in its tariff policy allowing automakers to sidestep import duties on steel and aluminum. The move prevents automakers from paying tariffs for raw materials in addition to the Trump administration’s 25% levy on cars.

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