WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved a resolution aimed at unwinding most of President Donald Trump’s global tariff regime, a rare bipartisan rebuke that landed the same day the White House trumpeted a tariff thaw with China and a major soybean purchase pledge.
The measure, passed 51–47 with Republicans Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) joining all Democrats, would nullify national emergency declarations the administration used to justify sweeping import taxes. Similar resolutions targeting levies on Brazil and Canada cleared the Senate earlier in the week.
The votes, pushed by Democrats under a decades-old emergency-powers statute, are largely symbolic: House GOP leaders are unlikely to allow companion votes, and Trump has vowed to veto any effort curbing his trade authority. Still, the series of roll calls exposed party fissures over an approach critics say has raised consumer costs and strained manufacturers and farmers.
“American families are being squeezed by prices going up and up,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), arguing rural states have borne outsized pain from tariff crossfire. Paul, who supported the latest resolution, credited Trump for agreeing to trim China tariffs but warned rates remain “much higher than we’ve had” and will “lead to increased prices.”
The Capitol Hill pushback came hours after Trump, fresh from talks in South Korea with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, hailed a tentative understanding to cut U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and to secure Chinese purchases of 25 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans annually for three years—starting with 10 million tons this year. The president cast the outcome as delivering “prosperity and security to millions of Americans.”
Republicans from farm states welcomed the soybean pledge but acknowledged recovery will take time. “It’s huge news,” said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), while noting growers may still need relief given the prolonged loss of their top customer. China bought nearly 27 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans in 2024, meaning the new commitment would restore—but not exceed—recent volumes.
Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) urged more “targeted” trade tools to minimize domestic harm, yet said talks with Beijing “are bearing fruit,” citing resumed soybean purchases and eased controls on rare earth exports.
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) dismissed the administration’s claims of victory: “Donald Trump has folded, leaving American families and farmers to deal with the wreckage from his erratic, on-again, off-again tariff policies.”
