Senator Coons condemns Trump’s tariffs, urges colleagues to end tariffs on Canada in speech before Senate vote

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) spoke on the U.S. Senate floor tonight, where he lambasted the new global tariffs imposed by President Trump this afternoon and called on his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support a resolution that would end the tariffs President Trump has imposed on Canada. The resolution passed, 51-48. Senator Coons is a cosponsor of the resolution.

"I rise to bring the attention of this body to a broken promise by our president. Our president promised in the campaign, and recently in an address to all of us here in Congress, to make America affordable again," Senator Coons said. "Today, President Trump has announced he is going to impose tariffs on virtually every trading partner we have, and I rise in support of a piece of legislation we're about to vote on here in the Senate that gives us a chance to do something."

Tonight, the Senate voted on a resolution by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) to revoke the "emergency" President Trump earlier this year declared that has allowed him to unilaterally implement tariffs on Canada. Several decades ago, Congress passed a law giving the president the power to declare an emergency, assuming that presidents would only use that authority during a time of war or other national security crisis. President Trump has abused that power to unilaterally impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and other trading partners.

"Canadians have served alongside us in virtually every war we've ever fought. They are a NATO ally and partner, and for my small but mighty State of Delaware, our major export destination and the nation from which we import the most," said Senator Coons. "And yet…President Trump is moving ahead with slapping tariffs on Canada."

Earlier today, on what President Trump declared 'Liberation Day,' President Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on nearly everything imported into the United States, as well as significantly higher tariffs on nearly every other country, from Taiwan to Israel to the European Union. Financial markets immediately plummeted upon the news. Economists and business organizations have called them "monstrously destructive" and "catastrophic for American families."

"This is not Liberation Day, but Tax Day - a new national sales tax that will harm the imports we buy from virtually every country, and because of the countervailing tariffs, harm our exports," Senator Coons said.

Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Small Business Committee. In February, he introduced the STABLE Trade Policy Act with Senator Kaine, which would institute a requirement of congressional approval before a president could impose new tariffs on U.S. allies and free trade agreement partners such as Canada.

A video and transcript of Senator Coons' remarks are available below.

WATCH HERE.

SENATOR COONS: Mr. President, I rise to bring the attention of this body to a broken promise by our president.

Our president promised in the campaign, and recently in an address to all of us here in Congress, to make America affordable again. To deal with the high prices - groceries, of fruits and vegetables, of housing, of housing supplies, of energy - to deal with high prices. Millions of Americans who voted for President Trump said they did so out of frustration about high prices. Well today, President Trump has announced he is going to impose tariffs on virtually every trading partner we have, and I rise in support of a piece of legislation we're about to vote on here in the Senate that gives us a chance to do something.

So to my colleagues, if you've heard as I have from your constituents, calling with concern and alarm about how much prices have not gone down, but have gone up, I recommend you think about one country: one of our most trusted and loyal allies, some of the nicest people on the planet.

Who doesn't like Canadians? Canadians have served alongside us in virtually every war we've ever fought. They are a NATO ally and partner, and for my small but mighty State of Delaware, our major export destination and the nation from which we import the most. And yet, because of an emergency at our border - which I think is wholly unjustified by the data of how little fentanyl actually comes into our country across the northern border - President Trump is moving ahead with slapping tariffs on Canada.

Tonight you have a chance, I say to my colleagues, to vote to undo the declaration of an "emergency" on our northern border. You can vote to undo the harm to businesses, to small families, to retirement accounts. Don't look at your 401(k) if you want to know tomorrow the consequences of indiscriminately slapping tariffs on every one of our major trading partners. This is not Liberation Day, but Tax Day - a new national sales tax that will harm the imports we buy from virtually every country, and because of the countervailing tariffs, harm our exports.

A tariff is a tax. Tonight we will take a vote, and I hope some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join with Senator Kaine and many of us in recognizing it is ludicrous to use the special emergency powers that Congress gave to the president assuming he would only do so in a case of war or active open hostility, not in the case of one of our trusted and loyal partners and allies, the great and kind people of Canada.

In recent meetings with Canadian leaders, they've said 'Don't make us do it. Don't make us impose tariffs on you.' But tonight, the Trump administration has imposed tariffs on dozens and dozens of our trading partners. To my friends and colleagues, let's vote to undo this phony crisis and vote to undo the tariffs on US-Canada trade. Thank you.