The Senate did not succeed in rejecting President Donald Trump’s global tariff plan after a vote on the resolution failed passage Wednesday evening.
The Republican-controlled upper chamber voted in a 49–49 tie. The measure was intended to prevent Trump from using a national emergency to impose 10 percent minimum global tariffs and additional tariffs up to 49 percent on countries worldwide.
Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.), a libertarian conservative, and Senators Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), both moderates, bucked President Trump and their Senate GOP colleagues by voting with Senate Democrats. The vote remained deadlocked because Senators Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) hadn’t voted.
Whitehouse was traveling back from South Korea, while no clear reason for McConnell’s absence was given. A McConnell spokesperson, however, said the longtime Republican senator remained opposed to tariffs.
Senate Republicans are now moving to table the tariff resolution to prevent future consideration of the measure.
Paul, a strong advocate for free-market economics and limited government, co-sponsored the resolution alongside Senator Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
The House GOP was not expected to take up the measure, and the White House indicated that Trump would veto any disapproval resolution that passes through Congress.
“They declared that legislative days will not exist despite the legislature continuing to meet every day. The House has essentially ruled that days are not days. Does that sound absurd? Absolutely, it’s absurd. It is craven, it is cowardice, and it is dishonest,” Paul said of the House GOP’s unwillingness to engage on tariffs.
Critics of Trump’s tariff policy have urged Congress to reclaim its constitutional powers under Article I and rescind Trump’s unilateral tariff powers. Senators Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) have also proposed bipartisan legislation to rein in Trump’s tariff powers and restore congressional authority to tariff policy.
The latest resolution was similar to a measure the Senate passed earlier this month to rebuke Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canada. Trump’s tariffs on Canada and musings about turning it into the 51st state played a major role in the Canadian Liberal Party’s electoral victory earlier this week after the party previously trailed badly in the polls.
Trump announced in April a “Liberation Day” plan to substantially increase tariffs on countries around the world, leading to panic on Wall Street. Many economic forecasters expect Trump’s tariffs to drastically increase prices and hinder economic growth. Trump and his officials have argued that the tariffs are necessary to bolster U.S. manufacturing capabilities and to end decades of unfair practices by foreign trading partners.
After days of stock market free fall, Trump paused most of the tariffs for 90 days, except for those on China. To celebrate 100 days back in office, Trump moved on Tuesday to walk back some of his auto tariffs as domestic automakers expressed fears that the tariffs will significantly increase costs.
U.S. tariffs on China have reached a total of 145 percent after a tit-for-tat series of escalations between the world’s two largest economies in April. Trump had previously imposed 20 percent tariffs on China because of fentanyl inflows, prior to the additional 125 percent tariffs he placed on China this month.
Trump and his officials have said that more than 75 countries have reached out to negotiate new trade deals with the United States. No major trade deals have been announced up to this point.
The U.S. economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2025 as imports surged and consumer spending slowed, with Trump’s tariffs looming. It marks the first economic contraction in three years and is a blip on Trump’s first 100 days, as polls show that Americans increasingly disapprove of how he is handling the economy.