The White House is denying that President Donald Trump is giving up on Congress to enact his agenda after the House handed him a high-profile defeat on tariffs.
Six House Republicans voted with every single Democrat to terminate Trump’s tariffs on Canada. The move came one day after Trump told Larry Kudlow, during a Fox Business Network Interview, that the White House would not seek to push another economic policy bill along party lines before the midterm elections. The developments fueled speculation that the president may be acknowledging political limits on Capitol Hill even as Republicans narrowly control both the House and Senate.
“Any suggestion that the White House is not working efficiently and successfully with our partners in the legislative branch is a suggestion not based in reality,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Washington Examiner.
The White House, in particular, cited the One Big Beautiful Bill and its tax cuts for working families, including no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, and no taxes on Social Security, and its funding of border security, in addition to the HALT Fentanyl Act, the Laken Riley Act, and the GENIUS Act.
The White House did not address whether Tuesday’s vote would lead to Trump relying more heavily on executive action — something the president himself seemed to suggest during his interview with Kudlow.
“We have gotten everything passed that we need,” the president said of his One Big Beautiful Bill. “Now we just have to manage it, but we have gotten everything passed that we need for four years.”
Although Trump, in the same interview, underscored that he had other legislative priorities, including the SAVE America Act, the admission emphasizes his loosening grip on Congress as lawmakers consider their own reelections, according to Republican strategist Charlie Black.
“The president still has solid support from Republicans in Congress, but it is not unanimous, so he cannot push his programs through, even with reconciliation available,” Black, the founding chairman of the Prime Policy Group, told the Washington Examiner. “The dam has just broken on congressional support for his tariffs.”
Democratic strategist Jim Manley, meanwhile, dismissed executive action as “meaningless” and being “purely for show” because while it “may make Trump feel good,” it is “legally worthless” as the next president can repeal them.
“The president really did a number on House and Senate Republicans when he said that as far as he was concerned, that Republicans were done with legislation for the year,” Democratic strategist Jim Manley told the Washington Examiner. “One helluva statement for them to run on in November. I have never seen anything like it.”
The former longtime aide to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) added: “House and Senate Republicans are finally catching up to the fact that Trump is a lame duck who is very unpopular with the public at large. And for at least some of those running for reelection, it’s time to start figuring out the best way to separate themselves from the president.”
Reflecting on the week, Republican strategist John Feehery told the Washington Examiner he is not surprised by the tariff vote, in which three Republican lawmakers defected against leadership, because the duties “have never been popular among the GOP in Congress.”
“Members are tired of defending policies that they don’t agree with, and at the end of the day, they work for their constituents and not the president,” said Feehery, a one-time press secretary to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
To that end, polling does not help the White House’s case, with Democrats averaging a 5-plus percentage-point lead over Republicans in generic congressional ballot polling, according to RealClearPolitics, as tariffs become more politically problematic for Republicans amid concerns of their consequences on the cost of living and affordability.
The same polling aggregator reports that Trump’s average approval rating for the economy is net negative 15 points, and for inflation, net negative 24 points.
In the context of tariffs, that polling is exacerbated by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation reporting this week that Trump’s duties created an average tax increase of $1,000 per U.S. household in 2025, a number that could rise to $1,300 this year, though those repercussions could be countered by higher tax returns than in the past.
For former Rep. Philip English (R-PA), the “crumbling” of Trump’s “legislative Maginot Line” in the House is inevitable, given an insignificant margin in the chamber, and growing backlash against turbulent, unpredictable tariff policies.”
Of Trump’s tariff policies, English told the Washington Examiner, Trump should “flip the script and demand that congressional opponents offer an alternative to his trade policy.”
“He should consider legislative strategies to make permanent his trade policy objectives, while highlighting and linking popular initiatives in deregulation, reshoring, and energy independence,” the former congressman said. “Trump needs to offer congressional allies breathing space to engage their constituencies without facing counterproductive litmus tests.”
Nevertheless, the lack of congressional support does not augur well for Trump should the Supreme Court rule against his use of his emergency economic powers to impose his fentanyl tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, and his Liberation Day duties on a raft of trading partners. In light of this, the president could try to seek congressional approval for what has become his signature economic policy.
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Former Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), a climate advocate who has never supported Trump, told the Washington Examiner the tariff vote could be the start of more Republican criticism of the president after the deadly shootings of anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters in Minnesota.
“That’s what I would be afraid of right now if I were a Republican facing a competitive election in the fall, is that simple question, ‘Had enough?’” Inglis, the former congressman, said.
