How Democrats will try to end Trump’s tariffs

The battle for Congress is over. The war over President Donald Trump’s tariffs is about to intensify.

The web of tariffs that Trump has spent the past two years weaving may soon face its greatest threat, as Democrats prepare to unload their new legislative firepower against the Republican president’s signature policies.

Democrats have made no secret of their intention to bombard Trump and his associates with investigations as soon as the next Congress is sworn in. They are also preparing a legislative blitz in the first 100 hours, introducing a series of bills that would undo much of Trump’s agenda.

Both prongs of the attack will target Trump’s unprecedented use of tariffs, which Democrats quickly identified as a primary target after their landslide victory in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Ending Trump’s tariff regime, and particularly his trade war against Canada, is something Democrats “absolutely need to do immediately,” Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat of Michigan, told MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic minority leader who could be elected House speaker in the next Congress, has made clear that ending Trump’s tariffs is a top priority.

“We should restore Congress’s authority over tariffs because Trump’s tariffs are making life more expensive for the American people,” he said at a news conference in late August.

If chosen as speaker, Jeffries would expedite House passage of legislation reasserting Congress’ authority over trade.

Democrats are also laying the groundwork for investigations into Trump’s tariffs, which the party incorporated into its winning campaign message linking the high costs to alleged Trumpworld corruption.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, on Oct. 28 asked Trump to turn over records related to the tariff exemptions. Trump, Raskin claims, exercised the exemption power to cut “sweet deals” with industries whose executives gave the president gifts.

These plans risk increasing the pressure, both legal and political, that Trump’s tariffs already faced.

The administration is already involved in multiple lawsuits challenging various aspects of the government’s tariff policy.

The most recent lawsuit, filed Oct. 20, targets Trump’s use of a Great Depression-era law to impose 50 percent tariffs on a range of Canadian products.

Another court case accuses Trump of trying to recreate the near-global “Liberation Day” tariffs that the Supreme Court declared illegal in late February. The administration has since been ordered to repay $166 billion in tariff revenue it collected under the abandoned policy.

Congress, not the president, holds the power to levy taxes under the U.S. Constitution. Over the decades, the legislature has ceded some of these powers to the executive. But Trump has asserted virtually unchecked tariff powers — which Democrats say they intend to reclaim.

“Every day that Trump insists on his indiscriminate taxes on many of the products Americans need, he digs a deeper hole for Republicans, enabling his tariff spree,” said Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who is set to lead the Senate Finance Committee when Democrats take over.

“If Democrats had a veto-proof majority, or if voters shamed Republicans into doing the right thing, there would be no shortage of trade policies,” Wyden said in a statement to CNBC before Election Day.

“One of the most obvious priorities would be to repeal Trump’s tariffs on Canada, which are driving up prices and harming communities on both sides of the border,” he said. “I will also continue to work to ensure that Congress has the final say on tariffs, so that future presidents cannot repeat Trump’s economically disastrous trade taxes.”

The Wall Street Journal, citing Wyden, reported Thursday that Democrats view Canada’s trade war as the “primary target” of their efforts against his tariff agenda.

As Wyden’s statement suggests, Senate rules will hamper Democrats’ anti-tariff efforts.

Despite their resounding victory Tuesday night, the party will still fall short of a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which would give Republicans a crucial tool to block legislation even in their diminished state.

Trump is also poised to lean heavily on his veto in the next Congress, which would pose a major obstacle to Democrats’ legislative priorities.

To override a presidential veto, it requires a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, meaning that even with their historic electoral gains, Democrats would need significant Republican help to push through a bill over Trump’s objection.

Democrats might consider it worth passing a law even if Trump vetoes it, because it could help them build political narratives in the 2028 election cycle. But they may have other options available.

“Absent the brute force of a veto-proof coalition, Congress could consider other policy solutions, such as adding language to ‘must-pass’ bills or negotiating with the administration,” Kit Johnson, senior tax director for BDO’s Customs and International Trade Group, told CNBC in an email.

Trump has announced his intention to use his veto to force Democrats to the negotiating table. But when it comes to tariffs, it’s hard to imagine what deal Trump might agree to.

Trump has attempted to reshape U.S. trade, foreign and economic policy around his assertive power to impose high tariffs on imported goods. He describes tariffs as a win-win, calling them both a powerful negotiating tool and an important revenue generator.

After Tuesday’s election, Trump appeared to suggest that the tariffs were non-negotiable.

“If I took away the tariffs, we have 3,000 factories under construction right now. Every factory would stop building,” Trump told CNBC’s Eamon Javers in a phone call Wednesday.

Since taking office in January 2025, Trump has increased tariffs in almost every country on the planet, leading to multiple protracted trade wars, including against Canada and China. He insists that Americans do not share the burden of tariffs, even though tariffs are by definition taxes on foreign products paid by those who import them. The Tax Foundation, a nonprofit organization, estimates that Trump’s tariffs increased the tax burden on the average American household by $820 in 2026.

Trump has also consistently overestimated the amount of revenue the government has accrued from his tariffs. He claimed before Election Day that the tariffs would allow him to offer every American adult $5,000 “dividend” checks if Republicans won both houses of Congress – a plan that would cost about $1.2 trillion. But the duties — which are collected from U.S. importers — only brought in about $300 billion in total between January 2025 and July 2026, according to Penn Wharton’s budget model.

Additionally, approximately $138 billion of that total has been repaid since the Supreme Court’s decision in February. Nearly $20 billion in customs duties are still expected to be refunded.

Most voters do not share Trump’s optimistic view on tariffs. Sixty-five percent of respondents to the Nov. 3 CNBC poll said the tariffs have hurt the U.S. economy, while only 22% say they have helped.

It remains to be seen to what extent congressional Republicans will oppose the Democrats’ efforts.

A number of Republican lawmakers came out against the taxes during the campaign, as their opponents gained ground by blaming inflation on Trump’s tariffs and the war in Iran.

As they attempt to regroup and look forward to the 2028 election cycle, some Republicans — who largely supported free trade before Trump’s political arrival — may be less willing to continue aligning themselves with Trump’s aggressive protectionism.