US Senate to vote on bill to rein in Trump tariffs as economy contracts

Washington: The US Senate was poised on Wednesday to vote on a resolution to block a host of President Donald Trump's tariffs, hours after the federal government reported that the nation's economy contracted for the first time in three years amid the chaos of the president's tariff policies.

The measure, introduced by Democratic Senator Ron Wyden as a privileged resolution that requires a vote by the Republican-led chamber, would terminate the national emergency that Trump declared as the basis for 10% global tariffs on U.S. trading partners and higher reciprocal tariffs on China and the European Union. The resolution is co-sponsored by Republican Senator Rand Paul, an outspoken critic of Trump's tariff policy. But it was not clear whether enough Republicans would support the measure, just weeks after four Senate Republicans joined Democrats to pass legislation to terminate new tariffs on Canada.

Wyden said many Republicans may not back his measure for fear of being attacked by Trump.

"They can side with their constituents who feel like these tariffs are hitting them like a hammer. Or they can say, 'Well, Donald Trump might be mean to me, and so I'm not going to vote in favor of it,'" the Oregon Democrat said. The earlier measure, which had multiple Republican sponsors, went nowhere in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which last month blocked the ability of Congress to move quickly to challenge Trump's tariffs.

The White House threatened to veto the resolution on Monday, saying it would undermine national and economic security.

The Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that the U.S. economy decreased at a 0.3% annualized rate in the first three months of 2025, the first decline since the first quarter of 2022, amid a flood of imports as businesses raced to avoid higher costs from tariffs.

The economic report, which provided the first tangible evidence of the economic effects of the Trump tariffs, followed weeks of turmoil for U.S. securities markets and the dollar spawned by fears of rising prices and disrupted trade relations with major partners including Canada and Mexico.