Democrats want to kill some of Trump’s tariffs — but that might not end the trade war

WASHINGTON — Scott Colom never lost faith. After a week of ballot counting, the Democrat on Wednesday officially won a Mississippi Senate seat, making him the first Black person elected to statewide office since the Reconstruction era.

“I had the courage to believe in Mississippi,” Colom told supporters at his victory party. “I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters.”

The historic flip in the deep-red state spread was just the crest of a blue wave that swept across the United States in the midterm elections, as Americans voted to reject President Donald Trump and one of his most controversial policies: tariffs.

While the outcome gives the incoming Democrat-controlled Congress a clear mandate to rein in the president’s destructive tariff agenda, it’s unlikely to alleviate trade tensions with Canada on its own.

Trump returned to the White House on a promise of bringing down the cost of living. The cornerstone of his economic policy was the notion that sweeping tariffs on trading partners would secure more favourable terms of trade and bring manufacturing back to the United States.

Marc Trussler, director of data science for the University of Pennsylvania’s program on opinion research and election studies, said exit polling shows that affordability was the main factor driving Americans’ midterm votes.

“They don’t need to be macroeconomists to understand or to see that the tariffs aren’t helping in bringing the costs down,” said Trussler, who is Canadian.

Trump’s trade war with Canada dominated campaign advertising in critical border states like Michigan and Maine. Trussler said exit polls showed less than 10 per cent of people in Maine thought tariffs helped their local economy.

Canada is one of Mississippi’s top trading partners. Trade tensions with Canada were not an explicit factor in the state campaign, but the president’s disruptive tariff policies were definitely on the ballot.

Colom, who was widely praised for his creative campaign ads, attacked Trump’s trade war in multiple videos. In one viral ad — which referenced the hit movie “Sinners” — Colom said Trump’s tariffs are hurting farmers.

This anti-tariff message helped Democrats win seats in other historically Republican states like Texas, South Carolina and Iowa.

The “big tent” the Republicans assembled from Trump’s 2024 victory was ripped apart in the midterms. Polling showed major shifts away from Republicans among Hispanic Americans and young voters, especially young men.

“I think regardless of how your state trades with the outside world or Canada in particular, you’re going to look at these tariffs and see an economic policy that’s not delivering for you,” Trussler said.

While the Trump administration has continued to defend the duties since the election, its rhetoric toward Canada has softened. The trade war escalated rapidly after trade talks blew up in August.

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Thursday that Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney speak “with some regularity.”

“(Canadians) would love to go back to how things used to be, where there’s just unfettered free trade between our two countries. We want to have a deal that makes sense for them and for us,” Greer said. “Part of it means protecting our supply chains and getting them here, but also making accommodation when possible.”

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, said that when Democrats take control of Congress in January, they will prioritize lifting Trump’s tariffs on Canada.

But it’s likely Democrats will only tackle one of Trump’s tariff tools while leaving in place other duties still hammering parts of the Canadian economy.

Trump used Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to hit an array of Canadian goods with 50 per cent levies after negotiations between Ottawa and Washington broke down. Weeks later, using the same Depression-era statute, Trump banned imports of other Canadian goods, including motorcycles and some alcohol and dairy products.

Trump’s unprecedented use of Section 338 — never previously used for tariffs — has alarmed many American businesspeople. A lawsuit challenging the duties argues they are beyond the president’s powers.

Democrats will be looking for a quick win to show Americans that they’re taking their cost-of-living concerns seriously. Overturning the Section 338 tariffs could do that for them.

But it might not be easy, even with a congressional majority. Democrats will have to convince enough Republicans to defy Trump over his signature economic policy in order to achieve the supermajority they need to bypass the president’s veto powers.

If the bipartisan push is successful, it would kill the Smoot-Hawley-era tariff provision.

Democrats are much less likely to take down Trump’s separate sectoral tariffs on Canada slamming industries like steel, aluminum, automobiles and cabinetry, or the president’s 10 per cent duty linked to claims of forced labour in supply chains.

Democrats have a broad protectionist streak of their own and many of their newly elected members of Congress are not opposed to using tariffs to protect domestic industries.

Former president Joe Biden kept in place tariffs introduced during the first Trump administration and expanded others.

Kamala Harris, the former vice president who ran against Trump, was among the Democrats who voted against the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2026.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press