Democrats Look to Undo President’s Canada Tariffs

BY GAVIN BADE

Party sees the trade war as best chance to flip Republicans against president

Democrats are eyeing President Trump’s trade war with Canada as the first target in a campaign to roll back his tariff agenda, according to the party’s senior trade lawmaker in the Senate.

“There is overwhelming support for repealing the tariffs on products from Canada,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, who added that he was “already talking” with colleagues about legislation to push against Trump’s second-term levies after he gains control of the committee in January.

In border states such as Michigan, Maine and Alaska, the tariffs were central campaign issues, and even Republican candidates pivoted to oppose the levies in the face of voter opposition.

Even after Democrats retake control of Congress, any measure would likely need 60 Senate votes to override a filibuster, and it isn’t clear Democrats could get the additional support needed to override a presidential veto. In most cases, Congress can override with a two-thirds majority, or 290 votes in the House and 67 votes in the Senate if all members are voting.

Even so, Wyden and those close to him say the Canada tariffs are the best opportunity to flip Republicans against Trump and potentially build enough support to avert a veto—or even overrule it.

In the House, Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell said she has been speaking for months with House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks on potential legislation to push back on Trump’s Canada tariffs. Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, the ranking member on the Ways and Means Committee— which oversees trade—said Democrats would be ready to address Trump’s “price-hiking tariffs,” though he offered no more specifics.

Democrats think they can encourage Republican defections by forcing votes on unpopular trade items and ultimately build momentum toward larger changes in the run up to the 2028 election and beyond. “Ultimately,” Wyden said, “Congress must take away the president’s ability to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose tariffs.”

The power to impose tariffs still rests largely with the president, and those close to Trump say there is little indication that an electoral rebuke will slow his trade agenda.

“The president has been moving forward on his trade agenda irrespective of the makeup of Congress,” said Kelly Ann Shaw, who served on the National Economic Council in Trump’s first term.

Over decades, lawmakers have surrendered Congress’s constitutional authority over trade to the executive branch, giving the president broad authority to levy tariffs if he feels national security is threatened or other nations are discriminating against U.S. companies.

Though Democrats are eager to address some narrow aspects of Trump’s trade agenda—like Canada policy— those close to the lawmakers acknowledge that their ability to rewrite presidential trade authority will be limited while Trump is in the White House. Outside of Canadian tariffs, Democrats realize they are unlikely to muster enough GOP votes, people familiar with their thinking said, and simmering disagreements remain within the Democratic Party over the use of tariffs.

Most Democrats object to Trump’s more extreme uses of tariffs, said former Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat who represented Flint, Mich. However, “where we do see some disagreement is on specific, targeted tariffs and trade actions,” he added, such as levies on steel, aluminum or other national security-related sectors.

Such dynamics mean that fundamental rewrites of major U.S. trade laws are unlikely in the next two years—particularly on statutes that had been used by presidents before Trump. Those include Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which underpins Trump’s tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles and other industries, and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the foundation of tariffs on 60 nations based on forced-labor allegations, and coming levies based on industrial subsidies in foreign countries.

A truck crosses into the U.S. from Canada on the Gordie Howe International Bridge, connecting Ontario and Detroit.

JEFF

KOWALSKY/ AFP/ GETTY