On Senate Floor, Klobuchar Calls for Congress to Pass Her Legislation to Reverse Canada Tariffs

WASHINGTON-On the Senate Floor, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called for support of her bipartisan legislation with Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) to undo President Trump's across-the-board tariffs on Canadian imports. The administration is imposing a 10 percent tariff on energy from Canada and a 25 percent tariff on other goods - a move that amounts to a tax hike on American consumers and businesses. Canada is Minnesota's top trading partner.

"This resolution is about drawing a line in the sand and saying you cannot abuse your emergency powers to start an unjustified trade war,"said Klobuchar. "You cannot abuse your emergency powers to hurt one of the finest relationships in the world, the relationship between America and Canada, and you cannot drive up prices, eliminate jobs, and put in place a national sales tax."

Along with Klobuchar, Kaine, and Warner, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Angus King (I-ME), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Rand Paul (R-KY).

Specifically, the senators' legislation would work by terminating the President's February 1 declaration that President Trump used to launch his trade war with Canada, and thus eliminate the tariffs on Canadian imports as a result. The declaration invoked the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), an unprecedented use of that law in its nearly 50-year history to justify across-the-board tariffs on a longstanding U.S. ally.

A rough transcript of Klobuchar's remarks is available below. Download video HERE.

Senator Klobuchar:Madam President, I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan resolution led by my colleague who is here today, Senator Tim Kaine, which I co-lead with him and Senator Warner to restore stability to our trade with one of our greatest allies, greatest friends, and that is the country of Canada.

This resolution does one thing, and it does it clearly. It terminates the President's declaration related to the Canadian border that he is using as an excuse to impose across-the-board tariffs, which are, in fact, taxes on Canadian imports under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Passing this resolution just became even more urgent because of the President's announcement of even more across-the-board tariffs this afternoon, including a minimum 10% tax on all imports and even higher tariffs on certain countries, including our friends and allies.

This is a country that has thrived on the fact, and our economy has grown because we do business with the world. And already with the President's announcement, which he calls Liberation Day, I call it a National Sales Tax Day, because the estimates are that these tariffs will result in about $5,000 in taxes, that's right, on the average family in America every single year.

What has happened? Well, the stock market is closed, but the futures are tanking. They are tanking, and that is because people get that this is not going to work for our American economy. They don't want a national sales tax. People involved in the economy of this country, everyone from small business owners on and they're going to be the first hit by this, because they do not actually have the wherewithal and the big conglomeration to try to deal with it.

Small farmers in my state that are already dealing with retaliatory tariffs, that are already dealing with the fact that Canadians who used to buy their stuff don't want to buy it anymore, or other countries aren't buying their stuff. And what happens then, the Canadians look for other markets, and there's other countries, other manufacturers, other farmers, and other nations that say "we are more than happy to fill your contract, sir. We are more than happy to help you out with that aluminum, Mam." Because of these tariffs.

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This resolution is about drawing a line in the sand and saying you cannot abuse your emergency powers to start an unjustified trade war. You cannot abuse your emergency powers to hurt one of the finest relationships in the world, the relationship between America and Canada, and you cannot drive up prices, eliminate jobs, and put in place a national sales tax.

Canada is not just our neighbor with my state, it's our number one trading partner. In fact, we do so much business with Canada that it is more than the total of our number two, number three, and number four, largest markets combined. We are the fourth biggest ag exporter, the state of Minnesota, in the country. So, we know a little bit about how this works.

In 2023 alone, our state exported 7 billion in goods to Canada, including ag products, machinery, and medical devices. That's a major hit for the retaliatory tariffs that we're going to see.

The damage could extend to every sector of our economy. I just mentioned tourism. So I chair the Canadian American Interparliamentary Group. I go to Canada a lot. I know our partners over there. I know the people in the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, all of them. And the one thing that has united us to a T is this friendship, that has far transcended this President.

I remember it was the Canadian Embassy in one of the worst of times for our country, that had banners draped in the front of their embassy that said, "friends, neighbors, partners, allies." Those banners aren't hanging there right now, and they're not going to put them up any time soon.

It was the Canadians that were the first to arrive after 9/11 to volunteer, to help out our country in its greatest moment of need. They fought alongside us in two World Wars. This is a long-standing friendship and an incredible trade relationship based on mutual respect and trust, and yes, two strong economies.

Because these new tariffs are already causing harm, as I noted, they amount to a national sales tax.

Since the administration began to propose and implement or pause but hang over people's heads, wide-ranging tariff, wholesale prices have gone up on everything from meat and coffee to natural gas and lumber.

Homeowners Association, Home Builders Association, Retail Association, how many business groups? Are the Republicans not listening to them anymore? And add to that, the Steelworkers. Do they not care about that? They're opposed to that, and they support this resolution that Senator Kaine, and Warner, and I have come together to introduce.

With these tariffs across the world, we're going to see a $20,000 increase to the price of a home and a $3,000 increase to an American-made car. This might not mean much to Elon Musk and the billionaires in Trump's cabinet, but it means a lot to the people in my state.

Tariffs can be an important tool. Sure, you can have targeted tariffs. That's not what this is. These tariffs on Canada are an abuse of the emergency powers, and if they want to negotiate this, put it in the upcoming negotiations of the USMCA, the United States, Mexico, Canada, Trade Agreement that I supported, that President Trump negotiated in his last administration. Why wouldn't he do it there? Why, instead, is he doing his usual shock and awe, jarring the economy? This is going to be a blanket permission slip for tariff wars.

And I will note again, thank Senator Kaine, our bipartisan group of supporters, and the United Steelworkers, International Association of Machinists, North American Building Trades Union, AFL-CIO, Chamber of Commerce, National Taxpayers Union, and the National Retail Federation have all endorsed this resolution. Maybe we don't care about all those businesses and all those workers, but maybe we should listen to them.

This resolution is about restoring common sense and responsible governance. It is about Congress reasserting its constitutional role on trade, and it's about standing up for American workers, businesses, and consumers who are being asked to pay the price of this trade war.

Let's change course, before the damage becomes even more permanent. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Thank you.

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