Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is urging Republicans to defeat a Democratic-sponsored resolution to undo President Trump’s 25-percent tariff on Canadian imports, arguing the tariff is necessary to address the nation’s fentanyl crisis.
Thune is warning Senate GOP colleagues that ending the emergency order Trump has invoked to place tariffs on Canadian imports would open the way for drug cartels to shift their smuggling operations to the northern border.
Thune will lay out the case for defeating the anti-tariff resolution, which is expected to pick up support from a few Republican senators, when he speaks on the Senate floor Tuesday.
“If we’re serious about ending the fentanyl crisis in America, we need to address the entirety of the crisis. We’re not going to solve the problem by going after just part of it,” Thune will say on the floor, in prepared remarks first reported by The Daily Caller.
“Ending this emergency declaration would tell the cartels that they should shift their focus to the northern border,” Thune will say, according to his prepared remarks. “I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution and ensure that President Trump has the tools he needs to combat the flow of fentanyl from all directions.”
The resolution, which is sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Mark Warner (Va.) would call for undoing Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.
It does not have the force of law but it would be embarrassing to Trump if a significant number of Senate Republicans vote for the measure.
Senators are keeping a close eye on Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who have warned about the potential economic consequences of tariffs on Canada.
Trump on Tuesday took a swipe at Kaine, the proposal’s lead sponsor, and urged Republican senators to defeat the resolution.
“Sen. Tim Kaine, who ran against me with Crooked Hillary in 2016, is trying to halt our critical Tariffs on deadly Fentanyl coming in from Canada. We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge,” the president posted on Truth Social.
