Republicans Pushing for Congress to Act on Tariffs Face Big Obstacles. Trump Is One of Them.

President Donald Trump’s allies in Congress want to codify tariffs. Trump wants Congress to stay out of it. House leadership sounds more than happy to heed the president’s wishes, and tariff-skeptical Republicans say any bill enacting tariffs won’t pass regardless.

That’s the current state of affairs when it comes to trade policy on Capitol Hill.

The Supreme Court’s decision striking down Trump’s ability to use an emergency national security declaration to enact sweeping tariffs in some ways thrust the future of the president’s trade agenda into Congress’ hands. The president enacted a 15% global tariff with a 150-day expiration date, unless Congress votes to extend it.

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Sen. Bernie Moreno wants to put Trump’s remaining tariffs on imports like steel, aluminum and semiconductor chips into law in a reconciliation package, which would only require 50 votes to pass.

“We have to make the case. I’m going to make the case with my colleagues. This is existential to whether we’re going to have a microphone,” Moreno told reporters on Monday.

It won’t be easy.

“It’s not going to happen. There’s not enough votes to have it happen,” Rep. Don Bacon, a vocal critic of Trump’s tariffs, said Tuesday. “I know at least four Republicans who aren’t going to vote for it.”

Congress is split on tariffs, but lawmakers like Bacon aren’t the only people standing in the way.

In his State of the Union address, Trump said he will use alternative trade laws to make his tariff regime “even stronger than before” the Supreme Court ruling, and tariffs will one day “substantially replace” income taxes. That wasn’t the first time he’s suggested he does not “need” any action from Congress on tariffs and will not work with lawmakers to push through tariffs.

“I have the right to do tariffs, and I’ve always had the right to do tariffs, and it’s all been approved by Congress, so there’s no reason to do it. All we’re doing is we’re going through a little bit more complicated process,” Trump told reporters last week.

Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he will leave tariffs alone after several key Republican votes peeled from leadership on tariff measures earlier this month.

“It’s going to be, I think, a challenge to find consensus on any path forward on the tariffs, on the legislative side,” Johnson said on Monday. “And so that is why, I think, you see so much of the attention on the executive side, the executive branch, and what they’re doing and how they’re reacting to the ruling.”

“I’m not sure it has much to do with reconciliation,” Johnson added.

But some prominent House Republicans have voiced an interest in making this Congress’ issue.

“Republicans should use reconciliation — the most potent legislative tool in our toolbox — to safeguard our economic and national security interests,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, who chairs the Budget Committee, wrote in a Friday post to X.

Others are more wary. Sen. Ron Johnson said that though he had advocated for a second reconciliation bill if the Supreme Court canceled Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, that now seems like “a real long shot.”

“The only one I would support is if we dramatically reduce the deficit,” Johnson said. “The reason you use IEEPA is it’s the most streamlined way of enacting tariffs. Now it’s been struck down. The other ways of enacting tariffs are more burdensome. They’re shorter-term. It’s going to be more difficult.”

As for Democrats, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said his party will move to block any extension.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, who forced the disapproval resolution on Canadian import tariffs, said he has not heard from Republicans who voted for his resolution regarding an extension of Trump’s new 15% global tariff.

But Democrats are keeping “options open,” including filing a lawsuit challenging the president’s Section 122 tariffs and forcing disapproval resolutions regarding tariffs on Brazilian, Mexican and global imports, Meeks added.

“I’m not taking anything off the table, but for now, especially this week, we’re not going to do anything this week,” Meeks said. “We should have a vote on these matters, because that’s what we’re here to do. It seems as though what the president is trying to do is circumvent that.”

Their effort may draw the support of Congress’s Republican tariff skeptics once again. Bacon said he would oppose a vote to extend tariff rates at 15%.

Six Republicans voted to cancel Trump’s tariffs on Canada, including three who also voted against a rule by Johnson that included a provision to block privileged resolutions of disapproval on Trump’s tariffs through July.

Despite this, many in Congress’ MAGA contingent are still holding out on a budget reconciliation package that includes trade policy.

“Everything’s got to be on the table to help turn around this economy,” Rep. Mike Haridopolos said. “Whatever package is necessary in order to continue to grow the economy is what I’ll look at.”