The House voted on Wednesday to rescind tariffs that President Trump imposed on Canada last year, delivering a largely symbolic but politically consequential rebuke that Republicans had fought for a year to prevent.
In a 219-to-211 vote, six Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in backing the resolution sponsored by Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. While the Senate has moved to cancel the president’s tariffs in recent months, the vote was the House’s first opportunity to formally register a position on Mr. Trump’s trade policy since he returned to the White House and began deploying tariffs as an economic strategy.
Despite succeeding in the House, the measure is unlikely to have any practical effect given that Mr. Trump would almost certainly veto it. Still, its movement through the House reflects frustration among some G.O.P. lawmakers about Congress continuing to cede its authority over trade matters to the White House, and concern that voters are being
hurt by the levies.
“There is not a national emergency,” Mr. Meeks declared from the House floor while urging his colleagues to support the resolution. He and other Democrats argued that Mr. Trump’s signature economic policy was “not a strategy” but an “impulse.”
globalnews.ca
