Senate majority leader John Tune lends important support for President Donald Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada, citing the need to support the administration’s fentanyl efforts to crack down on fentanyl.
Thune urges the senators to block resolutions provided by Senator Tim Cain, seeking to end the president’s national emergency declaration that justifies the president’s tariffs on Canadian imports. Senate GOP leaders are expected to defend Trump’s emergency declaration mechanism as part of the administration’s broader efforts to flow the fentanyl flow from Canada and Mexico to the United States. (Related: gop sens urge Trump administrator restarted fentanyl and shuttered drug attack efforts Biden)
“If we’re serious about ending the fentanyl crisis in America, we need to deal with all of the crisis,” Tune will say on the Senate floor. “We’re not going to chase a part of it and solve the problem.”
“When this emergency declaration is over, the cartel will tell us that the focus should be shifted to the north border,” Tune will also say. “I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution and ensure that President Trump has the tools he needs to fight the fentanyl flow from all directions.”
The Senate is expected to vote to end the president’s emergency powers later Tuesday to impose tariffs on Canadian imports. Kaine has the authority to force a vote on Trump’s national emergency declaration under the 1976 National Emergency Act, which is subject to simple majority votes.
WASHINGTON, DC – Jan. 8: President Donald Trump speaks to the media along with Senate Republican leaders at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on January 8, 2025. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images).
Trump issued The February 1 National Emergency Declaration, with a few exceptions to energy imports, citing 25% on Canadian goods and citing the trafficking of drugs that include fentanyl across the northern border.
“The extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, constitutes a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Force Act (IEEPA),” Trump wrote in his declaration, citing some Canada’s “growth of footprint within the international drug distribution.”
“Super Bowl-sized American groups originate from communist China every year and die towards the veins and stomachs of Americans through Mexican and Canadian drug cartels,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro previously told Daily Coleler, explaining how the Trump administration uses trade policy with fentanyl Christis.
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) seized an unprecedented amount of fentanyl (nearly 50,000 pounds) over the past two fiscal years. According to Go to CBP data released in February.
Fentanyl was responsible for nearly 75,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2023. According to Go to the Center for Disease Control Data.
The Senate enforced the law on March 14 to crack down on fentanyl-related substances and impose strict sentences on fentanyl traffickers. Tune is expected to oppose Kane’s resolution as the latest Senate Republican effort to combat the fentanyl crisis and US cooperation.
“The Democrats seem to want to take a step back in that fight. [against fentanyl],” Thune will say on the Senate floor. The reality is that fentanyl production is growing in Canada. ”
WASHINGTON, DC – Feb. 13: Democrat Virginia Sen. Tim Kane has tried to block Trump’s emergency twice since the start of the 119th Congress. He previously forced a vote to end the president’s national energy emergency. (Photo: Anna Money Maker/Getty Images)
Kaine leads Canada’s tariff end efforts along with Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota and Mark Warner from Virginia. He allegedly made “false claims of the fentanyl crisis on par with the drug situation on the tropical border” during the OP-ED for the Washington Post on Thursday.
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is a consistent opposition to tariffs and a critic of the president’s trade policy, and shares Kane’s resolutions.
Thune told reporters “we’ll see” in response to questions about whether the Senate GOP leadership has numbers blocking tariff end efforts Monday evening. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins and North Carolina Tom Tillis Proposed On Monday evening, they will join Senate Democrats to support Kane’s resolution.
“We want to give the president as much latitude as possible to address such specific issues,” Thune told reporters Monday evening in connection with the fentanyl crisis. “But you know, I’m in a very different place when it comes to the fullest tariffs and Canada.”
Senate Republicans, led by Conference Vice President James Lankford, will take him to the floor Wednesday in response to a presidential emergency vote. They are expected to defend Trump’s authority to use Canadian tariffs to stop the flow of fentanyl to the country.
Andi Shae Napier contributed to this report.
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