In this critical moment, Congress should move immediately to end the damage the Trump administration is imposing on American workers, businesses, and consumers.
A joint resolution to remove the tariffs
Congress should enact a joint resolution of disapproval terminating the national emergency that President Trump declared on April 2 regarding the large and persistent trade deficits. Doing so would mean that the corresponding tariffs could not be applied. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) has introduced such a resolution in the Senate, and House Ways and Means Ranking Member Richie Neal (D-MA) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY) have introduced a corresponding resolution in the House of Representatives.
Congress did not intend for the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the authority through which President Trump imposed the tariffs, to be used for something as longstanding as the trade deficit. The House report at the time said that “emergencies are by their nature rare and brief, and are not to be equated with normal ongoing problems,” and a “state of national emergency should not be a normal state of affairs.”
However, on April 9, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), as he has previously, used an unrelated rule to strip the Meeks/Neal resolution of the privilege the National Emergencies Act provides. The new rule said that a day is not a day for the purposes of the National Emergencies Act, thereby preventing the House from bringing a privileged resolution of disapproval to a vote after 15 calendar days to terminate the April 2 emergency (as provided for by the statute). The House approved the rule on a 216-215 vote, with three Republicans joining all voting Democrats in opposition. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Michael Turner (R-OH) both said they opposed the rule due to the provision preventing a vote on tariffs.
Rep. Massie further asked, “Why haven’t we voted on tariffs in the House of Representatives?” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a sponsor of the Senate disapproval resolution, told Punchbowl News that the procedural move was “deceitful and potentially unlawful for a rule to controvert a law.”
Following the setback on April 9, the House of Representatives should pursue a discharge petition and other procedural ways to get around the speaker’s blockade.
The Senate will vote on Sen. Wyden’s resolution of disapproval when senators return from the Easter recess on April 28. Four Senate Republicans previously helped Senate Democrats pass a disapproval resolution related to the Canada tariffs, which suggests the Wyden resolution could pass. The Senate should also consider attaching disapproval resolutions to other must-pass legislation.
Moreover, members in both chambers should use unanimous consent requests to try to get a floor vote on the House and Senate resolutions sooner.
Other legislation does not go far enough
In response to the president’s tariff announcement, Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced new legislation last week that would “reestablish limits on the President’s ability to impose unilateral tariffs without the approval of Congress.” The bill—the Trade Review Act of 2025—quickly gained momentum and as of writing has 13 Senate cosponsors, consisting of six Democrats and seven Republicans.
House Republican Rep. Don Bacon (NE)—who, surprisingly, provided the speaker with the deciding vote he needed to prevent a vote on the Trump tariffs—introduced a House companion to the bill, and press reports indicated that a dozen of his Republican colleagues would join the effort. The White House issued a veto threat on April 7, which suggests that there is momentum for the effort.
However, if this legislation were enacted tomorrow, it would not remove the reciprocal tariffs currently in place and stop Trump’s destructive trade war. In other words, the Grassley/Cantwell bill might be helpful the next time an American president decides to declare a unilateral trade war using a baffling methodology and dubious legal authority, but it would do nothing to reverse the Trump administration’s actions last week.
The proposed Trade Review Act has no retroactive clause and so would only cover post-enactment increases or new subsequent tariffs. The bill would allow tariffs to go into effect for 60 days but force their expiration thereafter absent Congress passing a joint resolution of approval. This potential whiplash would be better served by removing deferential authorities altogether, making the process akin to a supplemental appropriation request where the administration makes a request and Congress then decides how to fulfill it.
Restoring congressional authorities over tariff policy is a long-overdue debate, and this bill is an important start.
Conclusion
The American people expect Congress to provide a real check and balance on an overreaching president. Mere messaging from Congress is not enough for this moment. Congress must stop President Trump’s trade war before Americans lose their jobs or see a reduction in their quality of life.