The Senate votes to ban tariffs on Brazil. It shows some pushback on Trump’s trade policy

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday evening approved a resolution that would repeal President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Brazil, including on oil, coffee and orange juice, as Democrats test GOP senators’ support for Trump’s trade policy.

The legislation, introduced by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, passed by a vote of 52 to 48.

It would end the national emergency that Trump declared to justify 50 percent tariffs on Brazil, but that legislation is likely doomed to fail because the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed new rules that would allow leadership to block it from voting at all. Trump is certain to veto the legislation even if it passes Congress.

However, the vote showed some pushback among the GOP against Trump’s tariffs. Five Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — voted in favor of the resolution along with all Democrats.

Read more: Rubio meets with Brazilian Foreign Minister as Brazil seeks to ease tariffs

Kaine said the votes are a way to force a conversation in the Senate about the “economic devastation of tariffs.” He plans to invoke similar decisions applying to Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other countries later this week.

“But it’s actually also about how much are we going to let the president get away with it? Do my colleagues have a gag reflex or not?” Kane told reporters.

Trump linked tariffs on Brazil to the country’s policies and the criminal trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The United States had a trade surplus of $6.8 billion with Brazil last year, according to the Census Bureau.

“Every American who wakes up in the morning to have a cup of coffee is paying the price for Donald Trump’s reckless, ridiculous and almost childish cartoons,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Republicans are also increasingly uncomfortable with Trump’s aggressive trade policy, especially at a time of economic turmoil. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last month that Trump’s tariff policy is one of several factors expected to increase unemployment and inflation and reduce overall growth this year.

In April, four Republicans voted with Democrats to block tariffs on Canada, but the bill was never approved in the House. Kaine said he hopes the votes this week show the extent of Republican opposition to Trump’s trade policy.

To raise votes, Kaine used a decades-old law that allows Congress to deny emergency powers to the president and members of the minority party to force them to vote on resolutions.

However, Vice President J.D. Vance visited a GOP luncheon on Tuesday, in part to stress to Republicans that they should let the president negotiate trade deals. Vance then told reporters that Trump was using the tariffs “to give American workers and American farmers a better deal.”

He added: “To vote against this would be to strip the president of the United States of this incredible influence. I think it is a terrible mistake.”

The Supreme Court will also soon hear a case challenging Trump’s authority to implement sweeping tariffs. Lower courts have found most of its definitions illegal.

But some Republicans said they would wait for the outcome of that case before voting to override the president.

“I don’t see the need to do it now,” said Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, adding that it was “bad timing” to subpoena the Supreme Court case.

Others said they were willing to show their opposition to the president’s tariffs and the emergency declarations he used to justify them.

“Tariffs make it more expensive to build and buy in America,” Senator Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Republican leader, said in a statement. “The economic damage caused by trade wars is not an exception to history, but rather the rule.”

Fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told reporters: “Emergencies are like war, famine, hurricane. Not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency. It’s an abuse of emergency power. It’s Congress abandoning its traditional role in taxing.”

“There is no taxation without representation in our Constitution,” he added in a speech.

Meanwhile, Kaine also plans to call for a resolution that would restrict Trump’s ability to carry out military strikes against Venezuela as the US military ramps up its presence and operation in the region.

He said it allows Democrats to get off the defensive while in the minority and instead force votes on “points of concern” for Republicans.