President Donald Trump faced noteworthy pushback over his signature tariff policy in the US Congress this week as his popularity slipped and more lawmakers in his party appeared willing to risk his wrath.
While the pushback is unlikely to result in any immediate concrete change to his aggressive tariff policy, which has roiled markets and upended global supply chains, it represents a striking challenge for a president who has lashed out at critics and otherwise maintained an iron grip on his party and the Republican majority in Congress.
“What a difference a day makes,” said Henrietta Treyz, co-founder of Veda Partners, a consultancy. “For the first time in nearly a year, Democrats and anti-tariff Republicans will be able to record their opposition and send a message of rebuke and opposition to the White House.”
This comes as a landmark tariff decision by the Supreme Court could drop anytime between now and June over whether his use of emergency powers to justify wholesale import tariffs is constitutional, even as his trade policy becomes increasingly unpopular with voters.
Trump’s use of tariffs for leverage and chest-thumping reached an apex when he threatened tariffs of some 145 per cent against China last year before backing down and eventually reaching an uneasy trade truce in late October, during a sit-down in South Korea with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The House of Representatives passed a largely symbolic measure on Wednesday by a vote of 219 to 211 as a handful of Republicans joined the Democratic minority on a resolution calling for an end to the tariffs that he imposed on Canada last year. The bill now goes to the Senate.
This was made possible by another sign of Trump’s eroding dominance when late on Tuesday three Republicans crossed the aisle and voted with Democrats, paving the way for opponents to file bills critical of his trade agenda.
Since Trump took power in January 2025, the Republican caucus led by Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana has been able to use procedural rules and legislative tricks to ensure that votes challenging Trump’s tariff policies would not see the light of day.
The Republican majority in the House is so razor thin now, however, that even a few members changing sides – as happened on Tuesday – undercuts party unity, leading Democrats to immediately register their protest as they did with Wednesday’s joint resolution.
That bill, sponsored by Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, will almost certainly be vetoed by Trump, assuming it passes both houses of Congress.
But it does allow members of both major parties to voice their frustration as Congress, which has the power under the Constitution to raise revenue and levy taxes, has largely ceded that authority to Trump, acquiescing to his claims that illegal migration, drug trafficking and large US trade deficits amounted to a crisis deserving of tariff relief.
That saw him, in February 2025, invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in the face of a “national security emergency”, leading to the imposition of 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent on products from China, leading to a series of trade wars.
He has reinforced that authority with threats to unseat Republican lawmakers who counter Trump’s wishes by supporting opposing candidates at their next election.
But growing pushback could alter his playbook.
“Every time Trump issues a new IEEPA tariff, he will expose himself to a vote in the House and Senate on that tariff,” said Treyz. “This could curb the president’s impulse to indiscriminately impose tariffs over political or personal grievances going forward.”
In recent months, however, those threats have been blunted. More of his endorsements in general elections and battleground states have foundered.
And national polling this month suggests a significant decline in his support relative to a year ago. In early 2025, his approval rating was near 47 per cent. Recently, however, that has slipped to between 36 and 41 per cent, with a record-high 46 per cent indicating they “strongly disapprove” of his performance.
Trump has long maintained that tariffs are paid by foreign governments, a claim contested by most mainstream economists. And as inflation persists and more Americans worry about “affordability”, the effectiveness of his tariff policies has come under greater scrutiny.
“President Trump brags about the money generated from tariffs, but it is money ripped right out of the wallets of working families,” Meeks said.
Some 60 per cent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s significant tariff increases imposed over the past year, according to Pew Research. While Republicans are significantly more supportive of import taxes than Democrats, their approval has seen a marked decline in recent months.
-- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
