Vice President JD Vance cast a tiebreaking vote to table a bipartisan resolution Wednesday night aimed at canceling President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency in order to impose global tariffs.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email Wednesday night for comment.
Why It Matters
Stock markets dipped, and experts warned of a possible recession after Trump’s flip-flops on tariffs in recent weeks. The president threatened that the United States would impose tariffs on more than 180 countries and a 10 percent “baseline” tariff on all imports.
Following pushback from a number of Republicans and advisers, Trump reversed course and announced on social media that he was issuing a 90-day pause and a “substantially” lower reciprocal tariff rate of 10 percent. Stocks immediately took off following the announcement.
Trump has also suffered a slide in the polls in recent weeks, as more Americans have seemingly soured on his handling of the economy and other key policies like immigration.
What To Know
The resolution ended in a tie during the first round of votes, as a few members of the Senate were not there. In a subsequent vote to table or reconsider the resolution, Vance stepped in to break the 49-49 tie.
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky cosponsored the bill and Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski also voted in favor of it.
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was noticeably absent for the vote, but his spokesperson, David Popp, sent out a statement, according to Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio, saying, “The Senator has been consistent in opposing tariffs and that a trade war is not in the best interest of American households and businesses. He believes that tariffs are a tax increase on everybody.”
Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island was also not in attendance Wednesday night to cast a vote. According to WPRI News, he was attending a summit on oceans in South Korea, citing his spokesperson, Meaghan McCabe.
What People Are Saying
Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday: “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
Senate Democrats on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday: “‘If Republicans care about the American people, they will vote yes on our resolution today and turn off the fake emergency that Trump is using to impose his on again, off again, red light, green light tariffs, the tariffs that are pushing our economy off a cliff.’ —@SenWarren”
Forward Party founder Andrew Yang posted to X on Wednesday: “The Trump tariffs will go down in history as the biggest self-inflicted economic wound since the Great Depression.”
What Happens Next
It is believed that the Trump administration will continue working with foreign countries to reach a trade agreement.
Update 4/30/25, 9:22 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
