House Republicans blocked on April 9 an effort by Democrats to force a vote on halting the reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, which are currently paused for three months.
The maneuver was done through a rule, which the House of Representatives must vote on to advance to votes on measures.
The House Rules Committee advanced the rule 9-3 on April 9, which mainly deals with the unrelated budget resolution to unlock the reconciliation process to pass Trump’s signature legislative agenda. The rule punts the vote on the resolution to September.
The disapproval resolution would block the emergency authority that allowed Trump to enact the tariffs, which were announced on April 2. The reciprocal tariffs took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
The resolution was introduced by Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), and Richard Neal (D-Mass.). It has an additional 23 co-sponsors.
“By implementing these tariffs, Trump has now imposed the largest and most regressive tax in modern history, sent the stock market into its worst plunge since COVID, and is risking a global recession,” they said in a statement. “These tariffs are nothing more than a sales tax on American families, driving up prices on everything from groceries to cars.”
Disapproval resolutions force a vote in the House and Senate, where a simple majority is needed for passage as opposed to being subject to the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
The Senate passed a resolution last week to block Trump’s 25 percent and 10 percent tariffs on Canadian goods and energy, respectively. All Democrats and four Republicans voted in favor of it. The House is not expected to take it up, and the president is expected to veto it should it pass Congress. House Republicans blocked a similar disapproval resolution last month through a rule.
Trump announced on Wednesday a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for dozens of countries and retained a baseline 10 percent tariff for all countries, except China.
The president increased tariffs to 125 percent on China, after Beijing announced 85 percent retaliatory tariffs on the United States.
“At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable,” posted Trump on Truth Social, announcing the pause.
The president said he paused most reciprocal tariffs because more than 75 countries have reached out to the administration, requesting trade negotiations.
Congressional Republicans have largely expressed support for Trump’s tariffs.
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) told reporters that the president is “making good on a campaign promise to shake things up, to reorder the world system whether it’s trade or whether it’s alliances or military organizations.”
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) told reporters that the tariffs finally put China on notice.
“If China needs our market more than we need their market, because they already put unfair tariffs and regulations and restrictions on us, they’re going to suffer way more from this than we are in a trade war,” he said.
“If the rest of the world’s going to come to the table, why shouldn’t China too?” he added.
Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.
