Trump threatens primaries after 6 House Republicans vote to undo tariffs

President Donald Trump is threatening to support his election rivals against six House Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to reverse tariffs on Canada.

The president sent an ominous warning to GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate just before his agenda took a hit on Capitol Hill Wednesday evening.

“Any Republican in the House or Senate who votes against tariffs will face serious consequences come Election time, and that includes the Primaries!” Trump shared a post on Truth Social.

He argued that due to tariff policies, U.S. financial markets had reached significantly higher levels and the trade deficit had decreased significantly.

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“Additionally, tariffs have given us Great National Security because the mere mention of that word makes Countries agree to our strongest wishes,” Trump continued.

“Tariffs have given us Economic and National Security, and no Republican should be responsible for destroying that privilege.”

Democrats successfully won votes on a measure that would reverse Trump’s national emergency at the northern border by using a mechanism to vote over objections from the House majority leadership, called a privileged resolution.

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The six Republicans who voted in favor of the measure were Reps. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.; Kevin Kiley, California; Don Bacon, R-Neb.; Jeff Hurd, R-Colo.; and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.

A Democrat named Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, voted with a majority of Republicans on the issue. It passed 219-211.

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, attends a press conference at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington on July 17, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)

However, it is unclear how effective Trump’s threat will be.

Neither Newhouse nor Bacon is running for re-election in the 2026 midterm elections, and Trump is already backing a challenger to Massie.

Kiley, whose district has changed dramatically due to California Democrats’ new congressional map, has not yet said whether he will run for re-election or where he will do so.

Asked for a response, Trump told Fox News Digital: “This was a decision related to the emergency that the president declared due to fentanyl coming from Canada. Congress has an obligation under the National Emergencies Act to evaluate every six months whether the emergency continues. Canada has now taken significant action on fentanyl, so there is no basis for extending the emergency for another six months.”

Fitzpatrick and Hurd are popular incumbents in their districts and will be Democrats’ top targets in November.

Hurd told Fox News Digital that his constituents are “directly impacted by these policies.”

“Today’s vote is based, first and foremost, on the Constitution. Clause 1 gives Congress the authority to regulate trade with foreign countries and impose tariffs. Over time, Congress has delegated limited authority to the executive branch, especially on matters related to national emergencies. But these delegations were never intended to serve as a permanent tool for comprehensive, long-term trade policy,” he added.

“If we normalize broad emergency trade powers today, we should expect a future president of either party to rely on the same authority in ways that most of us would strongly oppose. Institutional consistency is important. The Constitution does not change depending on who sits in the White House. My responsibility is to defend the separation of powers regardless of political expediency.”

Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 that imposed an additional 25% tariff on most products from Canada and Mexico. Energy from Canada was subject to a 15% surcharge.

Prime Minister Mark Carney makes remarks following his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Quebec City, Quebec, on January 22, 2026. (Renaud Philippe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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At the time, the White House said it was a punishment for those countries’ unwillingness to do more to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs into the United States.

Opponents of Trump’s tariff strategy have criticized his moves specifically against Canada, arguing that it unfairly harms one of the United States’ closest allies and trading partners at the expense of Americans.

However, Republicans who voted against the law stated that Trump said the first reason for declaring the emergency was the fentanyl crisis and that the drug was still killing Americans.

The legislation now heads to the Senate, where Republicans voted to rebuke Trump’s past tariff strategy despite similar warnings from the president.