WATCH LIVE: The Senate is expected to vote on whether to repeal Trump’s global tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday passed legislation that would eliminate U.S. tariffs on Canada, just as President Donald Trump is engaged in trade talks in Asia as well as an increasingly bitter trade dispute with the U.S.’s northern neighbor that is one of its largest economic partners.

Watch the Senate floor live in the video player above.

The 50-46 tally was the latest in a series of votes this week to end national emergencies that Trump used to impose tariffs. While the resolutions will not ultimately take effect, they have proven to be an effective way for Democrats to expose cracks between the president’s trade policy and Republican senators who traditionally support free trade arguments.

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the Democrat pushing the resolutions, said higher prices caused by the tariffs would force Republicans to break with Trump. “It would be unacceptable for them to close their eyes and say, ‘I’m on board with whatever the president wants to do,'” Kaine told reporters.

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

The Senate passed a similar resolution applying to Brazilian tariffs on Tuesday, and had already passed one on Canadian imports in April. The same four Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted again with all Democrats to approve the resolution that applies to Canada.

Kaine, joined by other Democrats and Paul, was forced to vote under a decades-old law that allows Congress to block the president’s emergency powers. However, House Republicans passed new rules that allow leaders to block such decisions from a vote in that chamber, and Trump could veto the legislation even if Congress passes it.

The vote took place on Wednesday while Trump was in Asia promoting trade talks with partners there. The president is also competing with Canadian officials amid sensitive tariff-reduction negotiations between the two countries.

Read more: 6 points from Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi

Senator Mike Crapo, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, acknowledged in a speech that many “may be nervous about what comes next” as Trump reshapes global trade. But he urged Congress to get out of the way.

“Let’s have a balanced and fair playing field in trade,” Crapo added.

However, there is growing tension between GOP senators and the president over how much soybean farmers will suffer from the trade war with China, as well as his administration’s plans to allow more beef to be purchased from Argentina.

Read more: Fact-checking body claims Canadian ad was misleading about Reagan’s tariff warning

Vice President J.D. Vance visited with Republicans during a closed-door lunch this week and also said they should stay out of trade policy while the president negotiates deals. But Vance’s efforts appear to have had little effect on those determined to vote against the tariffs.

“Retaliatory tariffs on American products have upended farm income for many of Kentucky’s nearly 70,000 family farms,” Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former longtime Senate Republican leader, said in a statement. “Bourbon has been in the crosshairs since day one. Consumers are paying higher prices across the board, with the real costs of trade barriers falling on them.”

Trump said earlier this week that he wanted to impose another 10% tariff increase on imports of Canadian goods because of an anti-tariff TV ad aired by the province of Ontario. The television ad used the words of former President Ronald Reagan to criticize US tariffs.

Read more: Trump gets golden gifts as the United States and Seoul advance in trade talks

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is trying to reach out to Trump to ease import taxes that have hit Canada hard. The economic relationship between the United States and Canada is one of the largest in the world, totaling $909.1 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. More than three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the United States, and nearly C$3.6 billion (US$2.7 billion) in goods and services cross the border daily.

Canada has also tried to turn to Asian trading partners amid the trade war.

Democrats said the trade war affected a range of industries, from farmers to shipbuilders. They also said it did not make sense to enter into a trade war with a close military ally.

Trump declared a national emergency to impose the tariffs, saying fentanyl and other illegal drugs were entering the country from Canada. So far this year, less than 1% of the total fentanyl seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 66 pounds, has been seized at the northern border.

Kaine argued in a speech that Trump’s trade policy was actually based on his personal feelings. He claimed that Trump had “such a thin skin that a TV ad quoting Ronald Reagan” brought negotiations to an end.

“What about that as a justification for trade policy?” he asked.