Washington, DC, 12 February (H.S.): In a striking act of legislative defiance, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives approved a Democratic-sponsored resolution on Wednesday, rejecting President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian imports by a vote of 219-211, with six Republicans crossing the aisle to deliver a rare public rebuke to the commander-in-chief's cornerstone economic stratagem.

This maneuver, catalyzed by the expiration of a year-long procedural blockade that had insulated GOP members from tariff votes, transpired despite Trump's eleventh-hour Truth Social fulmination threatening primary challenges against any Republican dissenter, proclaiming tariffs as indispensable for Economic and National Security.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's bid to reinstate the moratorium faltered Tuesday, as three Republicans—Don Bacon (NE), Kevin Kiley (CA), and Thomas Massie (KY)—joined Democrats in a 217-214 rebuff, unlocking the floor for this symbolic salvo.

Nebraska Representative Don Bacon, emblematic of conservative tariff skeptics, avowed on social media that lawmakers cannot & should not outsource our responsibilities, branding the levies a tax on American consumers borne disproportionately by families, manufacturers, and farmers reliant on transborder commerce.

Democrats, led by Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY), lambasted Trump's emergency declarations—enacted since his January 2025 return—as impulsive rather than strategic, nullifying the national emergency underpinning duties on myriad Canadian products.

Though destined for Senate ratification and Trump's inevitable veto—insurmountable absent two-thirds overrides—the resolution underscores mounting GOP unease ahead of midterms, where affordability eclipses fealty amid a POLITICO poll revealing MAGA schisms on trade.

Canada confronts tiered Trump tariffs: a 35% blanket moderated by USMCA exemptions shielding over 85% of bilateral trade, lower energy imposts, yet punishing sector-specific hikes on autos, steel, and aluminum that have exacerbated frictions.

Legal tempests loom, with the Supreme Court imminent on the validity of emergency-justified duties, paralleling Senate precursors that Trump similarly spurned.

A Pew Research Center survey this month registers 60% American opprobrium toward escalated tariffs, emboldening Democrats to wield the issue as a cudgel while exposing fissures in Trump's congressional phalanx.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar