President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) for leading the effort to stop him from imposing tariffs.
The president designated April 2 as “Liberation Day” and plans to levy a series of tariffs on various nations, including Mexico, Canada, and others. Trump appears to be trying to leverage the threat of additional tariffs to gain more favorable trading conditions.
Kaine introduced a resolution that would end the emergency declaration Trump signed in February to impose tariffs on Canada over its failure to curb the flow of illicit drugs into the United States, The Associated Press reported.
Kaine warned that tariffs on Canadian goods would ripple through the economy, making it more expensive to build homes and military ships.
“We’re going to pay more for our food products. We’re going to pay more for building supplies,” he said. “So people are already complaining about grocery prices and housing costing too much. So you raise the cost of building supplies and products. It’s a big deal.”
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump said the senator is “trying to halt our critical Tariffs on deadly Fentanyl coming in from Canada” and that “We are making progress to end this terrible Fentanyl Crisis, but Republicans in the Senate MUST vote to keep the National Emergency in place, so we can finish the job, and end the scourge.”
By their weakness, the Democrats have allowed Fentanyl to get out of hand. The Republicans and I have reversed that course, strongly and quickly. Major additional progress is being made. Don’t let the Democrats have a Victory. It would be devastating for the Republican Party and, far more importantly, for the United States. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Some Republican leaders have expressed reservations about Trump’s tariff plan. They point out that it could lead to American consumers paying higher prices for goods imported from other countries.
However, some GOP lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he supports tariffs as “a way to accomplish a specific directive, in this case ending drug traffic.”
Kaine, in an op-ed for The Washington Post, explained why he is leading the charge against Trump, accusing him of “abusing emergency powers to impose tariffs on Canada that will raise prices for American families and alienate one of our closest allies.”
The consequences will be unacceptable and brutal. Tariffs are taxes on everyday Americans, with price hikes on nearly all basic goods being passed down to consumers. Fully in place, Trump’s tariffs would cost the average American family up to $2,000 per year in higher prices, according to the Budget Lab at Yale — and the Canada tariffs will make up a large part of that. Put another way: If Trump’s tariff agenda comes to pass, it would represent one of the largest tax increases on American families in recent history. It would hurt consumers, businesses, farmers and the economy as a whole.
The American people broadly oppose tariffs on Canada, with only 28 percent in favor. Even the mere specter of tariffs has hurt the U.S. economy: Consumer confidence sank in March to the lowest level in more than two years, investment is being hampered by immense uncertainty, and the stock market lost $4 trillion in value earlier this month.
The Trump administration has not laid out a comprehensive list of the tariffs it is expected to levy on Wednesday. But he previously announced 25 percent duties on agricultural products, clothing, fruits, vegetables, and dairy coming from Canada and Mexico. The president also indicated he would place a 25 percent tariff on oil and gas exports from countries trading with Venezuela.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member