Klobuchar helps Congress rediscover its spine

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Legislation championed by Minnesota’s senior U.S. senator is a solid start toward helping Congress rediscover its spine as President Donald Trump steers the nation into a treacherous trade war.

Shortly after Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution that “seeks to undo” Trump’s “25% tariffs on most imports from Canada,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reported this week.

Minnesota’s Sen. Amy Klobuchar joined two Virginia U.S. senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, both Democrats, as the measure’s lead advocates.

The resolution cleared the Senate on a 51-48 vote, with four Republican senators voting yes. Not surprisingly, two of these Republican senators — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — represent states that share a border with Canada. That geographical proximity, which Minnesota also enjoys, typically leads to heightened trade and cultural ties.

“Canada is not just our neighbor with my state, it’s our number one trading partner. In fact, we do so much business with Canada that it is more than the total of our number two, number three and number four largest markets combined,” Klobuchar said in a floor speech this week.

“In 2023 alone, our state exported $7 billion in goods to Canada, including ag products, machinery and medical devices. That’s a major hit for the retaliatory tariffs that we’re going to see. The damage could extend to every sector of our economy.”

The other two Republican “aye” votes came from Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, who represent Kentucky. That state’s iconic export, bourbon, has been caught up in the Canadian trade war crossfire.

To take effect, the resolution also needs to clear the U.S. House. Its fate there is unclear because the chamber is controlled by the GOP. But so is the Senate. That the legislation cleared it this week suggests some in Trump’s party might be willing to resist him as the controversial tariffs’ impact becomes clear.

In turn, such a stance will hopefully inspire Congress to energetically re-embrace its historic role of serving as a check on the nation’s executive branch of government. Other dubious, if not dangerous, actions are in desperate need of congressional scrutiny.

Among them: South African-born billionaire Elon Musk’s chainsaw-style cuts to government agencies running programs that Americans rely on, such as Social Security. Equally damaging are cuts to staff and holdups in grants at the National Institutes of Health, which threaten future medical breakthroughs and the economic well-being of states like Minnesota, whose economies are powered by health care and medical technology companies.

Admittedly, that Congress will re-engage feels like a thin thread of hope at the moment. But for all of us who watched our 401(k) retirement accounts shrivel this week, there’s some comfort in seeing congressional leaders like Klobuchar try to do something to stanch the bleeding. But she can’t do it alone.

Another Minnesota politician has a powerful perch in the U.S. House. Rep. Tom Emmer, from Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District, serves as his chamber’s majority whip. It’s unclear if House leadership will bring up the Klobuchar resolution for a House floor vote. Will Emmer find the fortitude to wield his influence to blunt the force of the quickly emerging trade war with Canada and its impact on his home state?

Klobuchar’s impressive election margins of victory, pragmatic track record and history of teamwork across the political aisle have put her squarely at the front of her party’s leadership ranks. That influence is heightened after last fall’s elections, which saw a fellow Midwestern Democratic stalwart, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, defeated.

Minnesotans’ expectations for their senior senator are high — and should be. The “undo the Canadian tariffs” initiative is a necessary and powerful moment for Klobuchar to spend some of her hard-earned political capital.

While time will tell if the Trump tariffs pay off with manufacturing companies returning to our shores, the stock market’s grim reaction this week underscores widespread unease, if not low-grade panic, with the president’s economic prescription.

China’s announcement Friday morning of retaliatory tariffs illustrates the potential for a harmful chain reaction difficult to stop. Other countries are likely to follow suit. Historical accounts of previous trade wars also raise troubling questions about supposed benefits.

The narrowly tailored Klobuchar resolution, if enacted, wouldn’t address the broader trade war set in motion by Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement Wednesday. But the tight Canadian focus is logical.

Ever since Trump began talking tariffs in early February, his focus on hitting Canada hard and early has been mystifying. Canada has long been a reliable ally and was part of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiated during Trump’s first administration. If things were that bad, why didn’t Trump include solutions in this previous trade pact? Nor does Canada appear to be a major source of fentanyl coming into the United States, which is a primary reason Trump has given for targeting our northern neighbor.

In an interview, Klobuchar said she is responding to a broad range of constituents and stakeholders sounding the tariff alarm, including many who are worried about higher prices and dwindling retirement savings. Organizations that have endorsed the resolution include: United Steelworkers, International Association of Machinists, the North American Building Trades Union, AFL-CIO, Chamber of Commerce, National Taxpayers Union and the National Retail Federation.

With the measure still facing an uncertain fate in the U.S. House, Klobuchar made a strong argument that the Senate passage is more than a symbolic victory.

“First of all, you never know, things that a while back seem like they’re not gonna go through, go through,” she said. ”I think that it was really important to take a stand and to have some crack in the wall here when it comes to the economics and tariffs. And from there, we’ve shown that we can do this. Well, let’s see what we can do next."

Continuing strong leadership from Klobuchar will be critical in building on this momentum and protecting America’s future.