By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2025-04-02 15:16:06 | Updated at 2025-04-03 14:50:45
23 hours ago
WASHINGTON — President Trump blasted four Republican senators early Wednesday whom he feared could potentially join with Democrats to block his tariffs on Canadian goods.
“Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change,” Trump said on Truth Social in a 1 a.m. post.
“And fight the Democrats wild and flagrant push to not penalize Canada for the sale, into our Country, of large amounts of Fentanyl, by Tariffing the value of this horrible and deadly drug in order to make it more costly to distribute and buy,” Trump continued.
Not all of those senators have publicly committed to backing the joint resolution, but Trump’s post indicates that he’s nervous about them doing so.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is trying to force a vote on a joint resolution to end the national emergency Trump declared to impose sweeping tariffs on America’s northern neighbor earlier this year.
That declaration claimed authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and cited the “extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl” — but will also hike prices for American consumers, according to the Virginia Democrat.
“More than 96 percent of fentanyl interdicted at our borders is coming from Mexico and less than 1 percent from Canada,” Kaine noted in a Washington Post op-ed last week.
Collins confirmed Monday that she would back the resolution against the across-the-board Canada tariffs.
“Imposing tariffs on Canada, which is our closest neighbor, [a] friendly ally, is a huge mistake and will cause disruption in the economies of both countries,” she told reporters.
With four GOP votes, the resolution could receive Senate approval but would likely face opposition from House Republicans.
“They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels. The Senate Bill is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it,” Trump also said on Truth Social.
“What is wrong with them, other than suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, commonly known as TDS?” he mused. “They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to hardworking Majority Leader John Thune, and the Republican Party itself. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump’s rant took place hours before the 47th president was to slap US trade partners with “reciprocal tariffs,” tax foreign car imports and possibly place further levies on Mexico and China during an afternoon “Liberation Day” event in the Rose Garden at the White House.
