U.S. House Votes To Eliminate Trump Administration Tariffs On Canada

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives voted recently to terminate the national emergency President Donald Trump had declared in order to justify tariffs on Canadian imports. (The Associated Press reminded readers that the Trump administration had claimed illicit drug flow from Canada constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat that allowed the president to impose tariffs on imported goods outside the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.)

Currently, the U.S. government imposes 35 percent duties on most Canadian goods, and 50 percent on certain steel and aluminum, but President Trump has threatened tariffs of up to 100 percent.

Members of the U.S. Senate have approved similar resolutions in the past, but, as FreightWaves explained, the measures would need veto-proof majorities in both chambers to become law. The House measure was approved on a 219-211 vote, a margin that is well below that threshold. Still, the votes are a major bipartisan rebuke to this portion of the White House’s trade agenda.

Six Republicans — Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Jeff Hurd (R-Colo.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) —  joined Democrats in supporting the resolution, which was sponsored by Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Rep. Jared Goldman (Maine) was the sole Democrat to vote against the measure.