White House: Amazon tariff announcement is ‘hostile’
The White House responded to reports that Amazon plans to display the share of items’ costs derived from tariffs, calling the move “hostile.”
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump narrowly avoided a rebuke from the U.S. Senate on his tariffs due to one Democratic senator’s absence.
The resolution, defeated with a 49-49 tie on April 30, reflects discontent with Trump’s 10% across-the-board tariffs and now-paused “retaliatory” tariffs that rattled Wall Street and contributed to a shrinking GDP as four Republicans joined with all present Democrats in supporting it.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both missed the vote but had intended to vote for the resolution.
However, the resolution is symbolic: The White House said in a statement on Monday that it would “undermine the administration’s efforts to address the unusual and extraordinary threats to national security and economic stability,” and said Trump would veto it.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., co-sponsored the resolution with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and five other Democrats. It would end the president’s sweeping tariffs by eliminating the national emergency Trump used to justify them.
“If Americans are to live in a country where the president alone decides what is to be taxed at what rate and for how long, it will be because Congress is too feeble to stand up for the interest and bank accounts of the people,” Paul said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday.
All Democrats and two other Republicans supported the effort: Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. Collins, Murkowski and McConnell also joined Paul and Democrats in supporting another resolution earlier this month to eliminate Trump’s tariffs on Canada.
“It is not perfect. I think it’s too broad,” Collins told reporters Wednesday. “But it sends the message that I want to send: That we really need to be far more discriminatory in imposing these tariffs and not treat allies like Canada the way we treat adversaries like China.”
The administration has also threatened to veto other bipartisan proposals targeting his tariff policy: Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, have introduced a bill that would give Congress more oversight of tariff policy.
The vote reflects some discomfort in the Senate Republican conference with the president’s tariffs, which have rattled stock markets and prompted a 0.3% contraction in the country’s gross domestic product announced Wednesday.
Many congressional Republicans would like to see fewer barriers to trade for the U.S. but have still expressed concerns about the policy’s economic impact. They have primarily urged patience as the administration negotiates with other countries to avoid the “retaliatory” tariffs that have been paused through early July.
Passing the “would signal to U.S. trading partners that they can continue to discriminate against U.S. exports with impunity, and would signal that the United States is not serious about addressing structural imbalances in the global economy,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, argued on the Senate floor Wednesday.