- The House of Representatives voted 219-211 to end President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canada on Wednesday.
- Six Republicans joined all House Democrats in a rare rebuke of Trump's economic strategy.
- Trump warned Republican defectors of electoral consequences for opposing his tariff policies.
SALT LAKE CITY — The House voted to terminate the tariffs President Donald Trump imposed on Canada last year, marking a rare win for Democrats after a handful of Republicans joined the minority party to challenge one of the president's main economic strategies.
Lawmakers voted 219-211, overcoming the simple majority needed to approve the measure to rescind a national emergency declared by Trump that justified tariffs on Canadian goods. Six Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in supporting the measure.
All four members of Utah's House delegation voted against overturning the tariffs.
Trump had a message for those Republicans who broke with his economic policy, warning that any party member who voted to terminate his tariffs would "seriously suffer the consequences come Election Time, and that includes Primaries!"
The successful bid comes after almost a year of stonewalling from House Republican leaders, who continuously sought to block any anti-tariff legislation from being considered in the lower chamber. They did that by imposing a ban on proposals to overturn Trump's tariffs, a moratorium that expired at the end of January.
But GOP leaders failed to extend that ban in a high-stakes vote on Monday night when three rank-and-file Republicans broke party lines to tank the measure. That opened the door for Democrats to launch an all-out war on Trump's tariffs against allies that they, along with some Republicans, have protested for months.
The bill on Wednesday addresses only Canadian tariffs, but Democrats have also indicated they will soon target levies on Mexico and other countries.
The measure specifically terminates the national emergency declared by Trump last year that was used to impose 25% tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico that fall outside their trilateral trade agreement, as well as 10% tariffs on products from China. Those were issued after Trump accused the countries of not doing enough to prevent illicit drugs from being trafficked into the United States.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as their constituents, have criticized the tariffs, arguing they have driven up prices for groceries and other consumer goods.
The Senate has already passed its own legislation to cancel the Canada tariffs, most recently in October when four Republicans joined all Democrats to vote in favor of terminating the punitive measures. If it comes up for a vote again, it's likely to pass.
The reversal of tariffs will be largely symbolic, though. Trump is likely to veto those measures if they reach his desk.
But Democrats want to use the votes to push their vulnerable Republican colleagues into a corner ahead of a crucial November election, and a rejection from Trump to end his own hotly debated tariffs could be used as political leverage.
