The US Senate has passed a bill to lift new tariffs on Canada, just hours after President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on foreign goods from countries around the world, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The Senate passed the legislation by a vote of 51 to 48 and sent it to the House of Representatives for consideration, where it is likely to be left to languish.
The bill's passage was a nasty blow to Trump, as four Senate Republicans voted with Democrats in support of the decision, Reuters notes.
The Democratic bill seeks to lift the so-called national emergency declared by the president on January 22 in connection with the illegal import of the drug fentanyl from Mexico, Canada and China; The national emergency was later used as a pretext for imposing new tariffs on Ottawa.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, called for the bill to be rejected before the vote. He said that shifting attention away from Canada right now would be a "step back".
"Aren't the cartels just going to change tactics and expand their operations north?" he asked. "I think we can be sure the answer is "Yes".
The measure needed the votes of at least four Republicans in the upper chamber, where Trump's party has a majority of 53 to 47 senators. In a midnight post on social media, he called on four of his party members to vote against the bill: Senators Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.
They ignored his pleas.
Collins said from the Senate floor before the vote that Trump's proposed tariffs on Canada would hurt several economic sectors in her home state of Maine, including paper manufacturers who source their raw materials from Canada.
During the debate on the floor of the chamber, Paul also took the floor, attacking the tariffs on the neighboring country.
Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, the main co-sponsor of the bill to end the tariffs, noted during the debate that the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement negotiated during Trump's first term "contains dispute resolution mechanisms, which make the imposition of duties unnecessary".
According to public data, only about 0.2% of the fentanyl seized in the US enters through the Canadian border.
The chairman of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, Bernd Lange, warned that the new duties imposed by US President Donald Trump could have serious consequences, especially for ordinary citizens, DPA reported, quoted by BTA.
According to Lange, Trump may call this "freedom day", but from the perspective of the average person, it is more likely to turn out to be "inflation day". The negative effect of a trade war will be borne mostly by consumers in the US; it will be expressed in increased prices and inefficiency of the manufacturing and processing industry.
The German Social Democrat called Trump's move unjustified and disproportionate and added that it could further aggravate the situation and lead to a decline in the American and global economy.
Lange also expressed concern about the uncertainty that is being created in the investment climate, and cited the recent instability of the stock markets as an example.
According to the European representative, a unified response from the affected countries is needed, which would send a clear signal to the United States. The EU will consider the best way to deal with the situation and, hopefully, persuade the US to enter into negotiations, Lange said.
If Washington is unwilling to negotiate, the EU will not back down and will defend its sovereignty, the German MEP added.
Meanwhile, British Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds promised London to "keep its cool" and insisted that the UK still wants to conclude a trade agreement with the US, despite Washington's decision to impose 10 percent tariffs on British imports, BTA reported.
"The United States is our closest ally, so our approach will be to maintain composure and our commitment to a deal that, if it comes to fruition, will hopefully help mitigate the negative effects of the measures announced today," Reynolds said in a statement following US President Donald Trump's announcement. "We have a wide range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to work with British businesses, including in assessing the impact of any future steps we take."
Trump said Britain would be one of the countries that would be subject to the lowest possible rate of the new tariffs, unlike dozens of other countries whose goods would be subject to much higher rates.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Washington's decision "a mistake" and added that the US would gain nothing from it.
"We will make every effort to reach an agreement with the US to avoid a trade war, which would inevitably weaken the West and benefit other players in the international arena," she wrote on Facebook. "In any case, we will, as always, act in the interests of Italy and its economy, engaging with our other European partners on this issue."
Canada will counter Trump's tariffs with countermeasures, Prime Minister Mark Carney said.
"The most important thing now is to act decisively and with force, and that is exactly what we intend to do," he told reporters before a cabinet meeting in Ottawa where cabinet members will discuss Canada's response to the US actions.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese also took a position on the subject. The Irish leader expressed "deep regret" about Washington's decision and called for a "proportionate" response from the 27 EU countries. Albanese commented on the US measures by saying that "friends don't do that", but added that Canberra would not take any retaliatory action.
US President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to 43%, the lowest level since he returned to power. Americans are dissatisfied with his customs policy and the government's actions regarding the affair with the military strikes in Yemen, BTA reported.
This is according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.
The three-day survey, which ended yesterday, shows that Trump's job approval rating is down 2 percentage points compared to a poll conducted between March 21 and 23, and down 4 points from the 47% rating measured immediately after he took office for a second term on January 20.
During his first term, the highest approval rating recorded for him was in January 2017, when it was 49%. On the other hand, the lowest level of his rating during his first stay in the White House was recorded in December 2017 - 33%. Overall, his approval ratings remain higher than they were for most of his first term.
The lowest approval rating for Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, at 35%, was just before the November presidential election.
Those polled gave the Republican's handling of the economy a bad review, where only 37% approved. Thirty percent approved of his handling of the high cost of living, a problem Biden has also pursued.
About half of those polled - 52% - agreed that the increase in tariffs on cars and auto parts, part of Trump's sweeping new tariffs announced last night, would hurt people around them, and about the same share said the increase in tariffs would have more of a negative than a positive impact. About a third - mostly Republicans - disagree.
Since returning to power, Trump has undertaken sweeping policy changes. He has fired about 200,000 civil servants and abandoned long-standing norms in American diplomacy. His customs policy has spooked investors, leading to a stock market sell-off amid concerns that his measures in this area could trigger a recession, Reuters notes.
Those questioned are also critical of the government's handling of military secrets after revelations last week that senior US officials discussed plans for an attack on Yemen's Shiite Houthi rebels on the public messaging app "Signal", which were later inadvertently leaked to a journalist.
About 74 percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll - including 91 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of Republicans - believe it is reckless to discuss military plans in this way; 22 percent believe it is a harmless mistake. According to 70 percent, Trump should take responsibility for the situation.
Only 34 percent of those surveyed approve of the Republican's foreign policy, a drop from 37 percent in a March poll. About 48 percent approve of Trump's approach to handling immigration.
The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online among 1,486 adults nationwide. The statistical error is within 3 percentage points.