5 GOP Senators Join Dems to Block Trump Tariffs

The Senate on Tuesday voted to approve a resolution to block President Trump's tariffs on Brazil, with five Republicans siding with Democrats in a move widely seen as a rebuke to the president's trade policies. The 52-48 vote, led by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, aims to end the national emergency Trump invoked to justify the 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods, CBS News reports. GOP Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis, Mitch McConnell, and Rand Paul crossed party lines to back the resolution, which only needed a simple majority to pass.

The resolution's practical impact is limited for now, as it would still need to clear the House—which has already voted to block any legislation challenging the tariffs until at least March, the Washington Post reports—and be signed by the president himself. However, Kaine and others see the Senate action as a signal, arguing that Republican defections, even in small numbers, can influence Trump. The Senate passed a similar resolution blocking tariffs on Canada with support from the same GOP senators save Tillis, but it has not advanced in the House, NBC News reports. Former Senate Majority Leader McConnell, a long-standing critic of tariffs, reiterated his opposition ahead of Tuesday's vote, saying they drive up costs for American consumers and businesses.

"The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule," McConnell stated. The administration, for its part, continues to defend tariffs as leverage to protect American workers. Prior to the vote, Vice President JD Vance urged Republicans to stick with the president and oppose the resolution, calling tariffs a tool to force investment at home. The resolution centers on Brazil because the "emergency" Trump used to justify those tariffs has to do with the country's decision to prosecute former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, which is different from the reasoning the president has used to prop up tariffs on other countries. Bolsonaro is a longtime Trump ally. "If that's an emergency, then anything is an emergency," Kaine said.