(Oct 31): The Republican-led Senate passed legislation opposing US President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, its third vote this week rebuking the White House’s trade policies.
The 51-47 vote, which included four Republicans, underscores growing economic anxiety over Trump’s often-changing tariff regime. Senators earlier this week narrowly passed bills to end emergency authorities underpinning the tariffs on Canada and Brazil.
The resolutions are largely symbolic because the House still must pass them, and Republican leaders there have refused to take them up. But the votes are the clearest sign yet of growing Republican unrest over Trump’s use of rarely used emergency powers to tariff imports.
Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell voted with Democrats on the global tariff measure.
The Friday vote comes as Trump returns to Washington from a week-long trip to Asia, where he touted new trade agreement frameworks with various economic partners. He also agreed to an extended truce with China during his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping since returning to the White House.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments next week on the legality of the president’s use of emergency power to impose the duties after agreeing to hear the case on an expedited schedule. Trump lost similar legal challenges in lower courts.
See also: Xi calls for stable supply chains after sealing Trump truce
The Senate tried to pass the same legislation to end the global tariffs earlier this year but it narrowly failed.
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
