Due to bipartisan concerns about the impact of his trade speeches on the economy, the US Senate has rejected an attempt to halt US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
On Wednesday, hours after government data revealed that the US economy experienced its first-ever decline in three years, the US Congress ’s upper house voted 49-49 to reject the resolution.
In a rare outburst of Trump from within his own party, along with all present Democrats and Independents, three Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted for the measure.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, representing Oregon, stated before the vote that “the US Senate cannot be an idle observer in the tariff madness.”
“The Congress has the authority to impose tariffs and regulate global trade.”
Given that it was unlikely to have gained support in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and would ultimately fall under Trump’s veto power, the resolution was widely considered a symbolic gesture.
“It’s still a debate that is worthwhile because, you know, people would start asking, “Is it a good policy, or is it a bad policy, or is it a bad policy, if we have massive tariffs going on and we have a massive sell-off in the stock market, and we didn’t have a first good quarter in growth,” he said. Paul, who co-sponsored the resolution, described the unsuccessful vote.
Trump has dismissed concerns that the US might become more recessionary as a result of his massive tariffs, including a 145 percent duty on China.
The US Department of Commerce reported on Wednesday that the economy lost 0.3% during its first three months of the year before Trump imposed his most stringent tariffs.
Source: Aljazeera
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