Trump’s Tariffs Face Rebuke as Johnson Fails to Block Votes

Alicia Diaz and Erik Wasson

Wed, February 11, 2026 at 5:12 PM GMT+9 3 min read

(Bloomberg) – House lawmakers are set to vote Wednesday on whether to reject some of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, ahead of a midterm election focused heavily on anxiety over the US cost of living.

The votes on the measures — starting with a resolution opposing the president’s tariffs on Canada — are set to come after lawmakers on Tuesday night rejected a last-ditch effort from House Speaker Mike Johnson to prevent them.

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Johnson, one of Trump’s chief allies in Congress, has led a legislative blockade for months to insulate the tariffs, pushing procedural rules that effectively prevented his chamber from ending the president’s sweeping tariff authority. A fresh Johnson-backed measure would have extended that ban through the end of July.

Yet Democrats and a trio of Republicans rejected the attempt at another delay. The GOP defectors were Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who often splits from the president, California’s Kevin Kiley — who faces a tough reelection campaign — and Don Bacon, a retiring centrist from Omaha, Nebraska.

“Congress needs to be able to debate on tariffs,” Bacon posted on X after the the vote. “Tariffs have been a ‘net negative’ for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying.”

House Democratic leaders informed lawmakers that the chamber will vote Wednesday on a resolution authored by Representative Gregory Meeks of New York to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada announced in February 2025.

Democrats have latched on to the Trump tariffs as a key campaign messaging point in midterm election season focused heavily on affordability. The party has pointed to the duties as a driver of inflation that have escalated the cost-of-living crisis.

“It is heartening that a handful of Republicans finally stood up to Trump to put a stop to this madness, and I hope that more of our colleagues will join them as we move on to consider measures to terminate tariffs on Canada and other key allies and trading partners,” Representative Don Beyer of Virginia, a Democrat on the House committee overseeing tax and trade issues, said in a statement.

The Republican-controlled Senate is already on the record as opposing the policy, voting last year to pass legislation to abandon the White House emergency global tariffs, as well as the duties on Canada and Brazil.

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Passage of similar legislation in the House — likely given the GOP’s tiny majority — would represent a major, if largely symbolic, rebuke to the president.

House Republican leaders, in an effort to prevent that, moved to block tariff votes last year despite a small revolt among some GOP lawmakers that was quelled by promises of regular talks over the effects of Trump’s trade policies.

The speaker told Republican lawmakers in recent days that the House shouldn’t hold any such votes until the Supreme Court rules on whether the president exceeded his authority when he used an emergency law to impose global tariffs.

Even if the House does vote to reverse Trump’s tariffs, it’s unlikely to force the president to relent.

That’s because joint resolutions need to be signed by the president into law, or Congress would have to muster a two-thirds vote in both chambers to overturn his veto.

However, adverse votes — especially in an election year — would heap political pressure on Trump to change course.

–With assistance from Maeve Sheehey, John Harney and Paul Abelsky.

(Updates with House plans to vote on Wednesday on tariff measure.)

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