The US and Canada relationship has been tense since President Donald Trump took office a second time and began levvying tariffs on the neighbor to the north and throwing around the term “51st state.”
On Wednesday, Congress delivered a rare bipartisan rebuke of Trump’s tariffs on Canada — even as the president escalated the spat this week.
On Wednesday, the House voted to block Trump’s tariffs on Canada by passing a resolution introduced by Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York that would rescind the tariffs Trump imposed on the neighbor under a national emergency declaration.
As tensions with the US’s closest trading partner continue to escalate, the measure cleared the chamber 219 to 211, with six Republicans joining Democrats to defy Trump and GOP leadership. One Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted against it.
The vote came a day after Republican leaders failed to block the effort through a procedural maneuver, when three GOP lawmakers sided with Democrats to allow debate to move forward. Trump publicly warned Republicans not to cross him and threatened political retaliation against anyone who voted against tariffs.
“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!” Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of the vote.
Both Republicans who defected and Democrats cite economic impacts as their primary reason for opposing tariffs.
“Today’s vote is simple, very simple: Will you vote to lower the cost of living for the American family or will you keep prices high out of loyalty to one person, Donald J. Trump?” said Meeks, who authored the resolution, ahead of the vote.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, said in a statement after the vote that “sycophantic Republicans in the House have tried to block us from acting on behalf of the American people” and that Trump’s tariffs were “causing prices to skyrocket and creating unnecessary uncertainty for American families”.
“As an old fashioned Conservative I know tariffs are a tax on American consumers,” said Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who voted against tariffs on Canada alongside the Democrats. Bacon will be retiring and won’t seek reelection in the midterm.
The resolution now heads to the Senate. But even if it passes, Trump is expected to veto it, making the effort largely symbolic.
The congressional rebellion comes as Trump’s dispute with Canada intensifies. In January, Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on Canada after Prime Minister Mark Carney reached a trade agreement with China, which offered China a quota for EV exports in exchange for certain agricultural tariffs on Canada being dropped. Trump then threatened to block the opening of a new bridge between Michigan and Ontario, and demanded some ownership of the bridge that Canada paid for.
Though a conversation between Carney and Trump has de-escalated threats on the bridge, it is clear that sentiment toward the US in Canada has soured.
According to Statistics Canada, Canadians returning to Canada after traveling in the US took a dive in early 2025 and are down about a quarter from the year before as of November 2025. After Canadian provinces launched a boycott against American alcohol products, US spirits exports to Canada plummeted 85% in the second quarter of 2025 and fell below $10 million in export value, according to the Distilled Spirits Council.
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