Three Republican senators join Democrats in voting for resolution to oppose US president’s trade policy.
The United States Senate has rejected an effort to block US President Donald Trump’s tariffs amid bipartisan concerns about the impact of his trade salvoes on the economy.
The upper house of the US Congress voted 49-49 to knock back the resolution on Wednesday, hours after government data showed that the US economy shrank for the first time in three years.
Three Republican senators – Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – voted for the measure in a rare rebuke of Trump from within his own party, along with all present Democrats and Independents.
“The United States Senate cannot be an idle spectator in the tariff madness,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, who represents Oregon, said ahead of the vote.
“The Congress has the power to set tariffs and regulate global trade.”
The resolution was widely viewed as a symbolic gesture since it was unlikely to have gained traction in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and would ultimately be subject to Trump’s veto power.
“It’s still a debate worth having, because, you know, if a month from now, we have massive tariffs go on, and we have a massive sell off in the stock market, and we didn’t have a first good quarter in growth, and if it’s worse again in the second quarter, people would start asking, ‘Is it good policy, or is it a bad policy?’” Paul, who co-sponsored the resolution, said of the failed vote.
Trump has played down fears that his sweeping tariffs, including a 145 percent duty on China, could tip the US into recession.
The US Department of Commerce on Wednesday reported that the economy contracted 0.3 percent during the first three months of the year, a period that occurred before Trump imposed his steepest tariffs.
A recession is typically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.