Senate Republicans Break With Trump in Vote to End Brazil Tariffs Despite Vance Efforts
Senate Republicans issued an unusual challenge to President Donald J. Trump’s trade strategy on Tuesday, even as they continue to stand with him in the broader government shutdown standoff.
Five GOP senators joined Democrats in supporting a resolution to end the President’s emergency authority to impose 50% tariffs on Brazil, according to Fox News. The measure, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), passed the Senate 52–48.
However, under a recently enacted House GOP rule restricting tariff-related floor action until January, the resolution cannot be taken up by the House until the new year.
The five Republicans who sided with Democrats were Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).
Their votes came despite Vice President J.D. Vance warning Senate Republicans in a closed-door meeting that weakening President Trump’s tariff authority would damage U.S. negotiating strength abroad.
“To vote against that is to strip that incredible leverage from the president of the United States,” Vance said. “I think it’s a huge mistake and I know most of the people in there agree with me.”
President Trump invoked emergency powers in July, stating that “the scope and gravity of the recent policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Brazil constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States.
This marks the second instance this year in which the Senate has challenged one of the President’s tariff-related national emergency declarations. A previous vote opposed his 25% tariffs on Canada, although a broader effort to roll back global tariff authority was unsuccessful.
Kaine, before the vote, claimed the tariffs were politically motivated. “It makes no sense to impose tariffs on Brazil, and it’s just being done to back up the president’s friend,” Kaine said, referencing former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison in September.
Sen. Rand Paul criticized the use of emergency powers in this context.
“Emergencies are like war, famine, tornado,” Paul argued. “Not liking someone’s tariffs is not an emergency.”
He continued: “Tariffs are an import tax … It’s a tax on the people who buy stuff from China, which are mostly Americans.” Paul added: “Taxes are supposed to originate in the House, so I will continue to vote to end the emergency.” When asked why so few Republicans joined him, Paul replied, “Fear.”
Meanwhile, Vice President Vance issued a forceful and public criticism of former Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell after McConnell became the lone Republican to oppose the confirmation of Elbridge Colby, President Trump’s nominee for Pentagon policy chief.
In a statement circulated widely online, McConnell declared, “Make no mistake: America will not be made great again by those who are content to manage our decline.”
Vance fired back in a post on X:
“Mitch’s vote today—like so much of the last few years of his career—is one of the great acts of political pettiness I’ve ever seen.”
Conservatives across the movement echoed Vance’s frustration.
“Elbridge Colby is one of the brightest foreign policy minds in the GOP and it’s pathetic watching Mitch McConnell continue to stand with Dems to sabotage President Trump,” wrote Kentucky businessman Nate Morris. “This is why whoever replaces Mitch for Senate needs to represent a clean break from him – Time for a change!”
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) responded simply: “Glad things are changing.”
The divide underscores a broader shift underway within the Republican Party — one in which old-guard establishment figures increasingly find themselves at odds with a populist foreign-policy movement reshaping American strategy around strength, sovereignty, and strategic deterrence abroad.