US House lawmakers voted on Wednesday (Feb 12) to reject Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, sweeping aside the president’s last-gasp threat of election consequences for Republicans to deliver a rare rebuke on his signature economic policy.

The measure brought by Democrats was approved 219-211, with six Republicans joining the effort.

It remains largely a symbolic move.

The House can consider measures to end the national emergencies Trump declared last year to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from various countries.

But any action aimed at undoing Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other trading partners will still need US Senate passage and the president’s signature.

Even if it clears the Senate, it would face a certain veto by Trump, and Congress would unlikely muster the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

Trump sought to inject himself into the action at the last minute, issuing a direct political threat to lawmakers from his own Republican Party as the vote was taking place on the House floor.

“Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

“TARIFFS have given us Economic and National Security, and no Republican should be responsible for destroying this privilege,” he added.

Wednesday’s rebuke comes after the expiration of a measure barring any vote on the issue of tariffs in the chamber - a move that has stifled opposition to Trump’s trade policy. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally in Congress, sought to renew this prohibition on Tuesday but was unsuccessful, as three House Republicans voted alongside Democrats to block the move.

Earlier on Wednesday, House Republican Don Bacon posted on social media that lawmakers “cannot & should not outsource our responsibilities”.

“As an old-fashioned Conservative I know tariffs are a tax on American consumers,” he added, noting that debates and votes on the issue should occur in the House.

Canada - like other US trading partners - has been hit by various waves of Trump’s tariffs since he returned to office early last year, tapping emergency economic powers to justify the duties.

Broad exemptions for Canadian goods however have softened the blow.

Trump may have imposed a 35 per cent tariff on many Canadian products last year, but he provided lower rates for energy imports and created sweeping exclusions for goods entering under the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA).

Trump’s separate sector-specific tariffs - especially on autos, steel and aluminium - have hit Canada hard. 

But overall, more than 85 per cent of all bilateral trade has remained tariff-free under USMCA terms.

Trump’s country-specific tariffs, justified by emergency economic powers, have faced legal challenges too and the Supreme Court is due to rule on their legality in the near future.

While Trump has repeatedly touted tariffs as a positive development for the country, a Pew Research Center survey released this month indicated that 60 per cent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s higher tariffs.

BILL PASSED TO REQUIRE US CITIZENSHIP PROOF FOR VOTERS

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives also voted on Wednesday to require proof of US citizenship in the November midterm elections, which Democrats said would impose unnecessary burdens on American voters and concentrate electoral power in the hands of President Donald Trump.  

Lawmakers voted 218-213 to approve the SAVE America Act, with only one Democrat joining Republicans to back the measure. The action sends the legislation on to the Republican-led Senate, where it is expected to receive a vote but unlikely to garner the 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority needed for passage.

The bill is the latest version of election legislation that first emerged during the 2024 presidential campaign, driven by Trump’s false claims that large numbers of people in the country illegally have been voting in federal elections. A similar measure passed the House twice - last April and in 2024 - only to die in the Senate.

The House vote came barely a week after Trump called for Republicans to “take over” elections in more than a dozen locations. The bill would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote in the midterms and would impose criminal penalties on election officials who register anyone without the required documentation.

Republicans also added a photo ID requirement for people casting ballots at the polls or via mail-in ballots in subsequent federal elections. They cited polls including a Pew Research Center survey showing that 83 per cent of voters, including 71 per cent of Democrats, back photo ID for voters.

REPUBLICANS WORRY OVER SPECIAL ELECTION LOSSES

House Speaker Mike Johnson described the bill as “common sense legislation to just ensure that American citizens decide American elections”.

But Democratic Party leaders say the legislation attempts to suppress the vote and undermine their electoral chances at a time when they are favoured by independent analysts to take control of the House. Republicans have been jarred by a string of Democratic special election wins, including one for the Texas state Senate viewed as a wake-up call.

“The SAVE America Act is part of a comprehensive Republican strategy to cement power this year. Speaker Johnson wants to make it harder for Americans to vote, easier for Washington Republicans to control how elections are run,” said Representative Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House committee that oversees elections.

It is already illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections. Independent groups on the left and the right, as well as state election officials, have found such voting to be extremely rare.

The left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has warned that the SAVE America Act could deny the vote to millions of US citizens who lack ready access to passports, birth certificates and other documents that prove their citizenship.

Democracy advocates say the legislation is also part of a larger struggle between the Trump administration and state governments that has included the withholding of federal funds, the deployment of National Guard troops and the FBI search of a county election office in Georgia.

“We have checks and balances in place that include state and local officials acting as a check against federal overreach,” said Mai Ratakonda, program director of election protection at States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan group that works to safeguard free and fair elections. “That’s what the federal government is trying to undermine.”

Republicans are also readying a second, broader election bill, called the Make Elections Great Again Act, which would mandate the use of paper ballots, restrict mail-in ballots and prohibit ranked-choice voting in federal general elections. It was examined at a hearing before the House Administration Committee on Tuesday.

- Agencies