Politics
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President Donald Trump criticized U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and three other Republican senators in an early Wednesday social media post for not backing his plan to impose new tariffs on Canada.
Trump wrote shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday on his Truth Social account that Collins — along with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and U.S. Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, both of Kentucky — will “hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change,” and oppose a resolution to repeal Trump’s February emergency declaration authorizing the aggressive tariffs.
Trump has said he will enact sweeping new tariffs Wednesday, which he dubbed “Liberation Day,” on imports from other countries, including 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports and 10 percent tariffs on Canadian energy products.
That resolution from U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, could clear the Senate before likely falling in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives, but Kaine has noted it will force Republican senators to pick sides in Trump’s trade battles. Collins has told reporters she supports the resolution’s “intent” and called the Canada tariffs “disastrous” for Maine, which gets about 70 percent of its imports, including almost all heating oil, from neighboring Canada.
When Trump initially planned but then delayed in February new tariffs of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico and 10 percent tariffs on China, Collins had also said the Canadian tariffs would “impose a significant burden on many families, manufacturers, the forest products industry, small businesses, lobstermen and agricultural producers.”
“They are playing with the lives of the American people, and right into the hands of the Radical Left Democrats and Drug Cartels,” Trump said of Collins and the other senators, alluding to his accusation that Canada is not doing enough to stop fentanyl from entering the U.S.
Trump also wrote the Senate resolution “is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four,” and that he would not sign it.
Collins, who is up for reelection in 2026, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning on Trump’s post.
Trump concluded his Truth Social post by urging “the people of the Great States of Kentucky, Alaska, and Maine” to “please contact these Senators and get them to FINALLY adhere to Republican Values and Ideals.”
“They have been extremely difficult to deal with and, unbelievably disloyal to [Senate] Majority Leader John Thune, [R-South Dakota] and the Republican Party itself,” Trump wrote.
