Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 23, 2024. (AP photo — J. Scott Applewhite)

ALBANY — Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to force the Senate to vote on a resolution that would rescind the wide-ranging tariffs President Donald Trump has slapped on nearly every nation the U.S. trades with.

Speaking from an Albany restaurant on Monday, Schumer announced that he would use powers afforded to him and other Democrats in the minority to force a vote on his resolution, which would rescind the emergency declaration Trump used to enact the import taxes.

The Senate returns to voting in Washington next week — and Schumer said the resolution will be one of the first things lawmakers consider when they return to the Capitol.

“I and my colleagues will force a vote on the resolution to end this trade war,” he said. “Senator Kaine of Virginia, Senator Wyden of Oregon and myself are leading cosponsors, and it would repeal the emergency powers that allow the President to impose this tax unilaterally.”

Schumer’s resolution is targeted specifically at the tariffs Trump has announced already, but the Senate Minority Leader is also backing a bipartisan bill led by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ohio, that would claw back the power to implement even emergency tariffs from the presidency, by requiring that any tariffs enacted by the President receive affirmative support in both houses of Congress within 60 days. If approval isn’t given, the tariffs are canceled.

Schumer noted that the Senate voted earlier this month to advance a resolution undoing Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods, which passed with all Democrats and four Republicans.

“I am also sending a letter to Speaker Johnson and saying ‘put the bill on the floor of the House’,” he said.

The senator said he’s asking all seven of New York Congress members to push Johnson to call that bill up for a vote, and to vote in support of the revocation of the Canadian tariffs as quickly as possible. He singled one member out — Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville.

“That has particular emphasis for Congresswoman Stefanik, because she has a district that has such a long, large border with Canada, and so it has a particular impact on her district.”

Stefanik is also a member of Johnson’s leadership team in the House. Schumer said that the New York Republican delegation alone has the power to pressure Johnson into calling that resolution to a vote.

But its unlikely that Stefanik will break ranks and push back on the tariffs. She has taken the administration’s side and said the tariffs will strengthen U.S. manufacturing and create new jobs here.

Further pushing his point, Schumer said he also plans to introduce an amendment to the budget reconciliation bill, expected in his chamber in early May, to force a repeal of the Trump tariffs. That reconciliation bill is a must-pass budget bill that Republicans in the House have spent considerable time and effort crafting and ensuring support for. Stefanik’s nomination to the United Nations was held up and eventually revoked over concerns Republicans couldn’t keep the votes to support their reconciliation bill, which reaffirms the 2017 Trump tax cuts and makes wide cuts to government spending.

Schumer, echoing concerns voiced by business owners, economists and investors, said the Trump approach to tariffs has already done significant damage to the American economy and will only get worse the longer the import taxes stay in place, or the more Trump changes the terms of the tariffs.

“Small business owners across the Capital Region are feeling scared,” Schumer said, noting that the region and upstate New York rely on Canadian tourists that have stopped coming in large numbers and constant trade back and forth across the northern border.

He pointed to jobs data that shows at least 100,000 people were laid off in March in anticipation of the broad tariffs meant to go into effect in early April — while the promised tariffs didn’t come into effect, a broader blanket 10% tariff was implemented that still increased prices significantly for many businesses.

Schumer, speaking alongside Dominick Purnomo, owner of the restaurant that hosted Schumer’s press conference, said that restaurants are particularly hurt by tariffs, and struggle to plan ahead with the changing numbers coming from the White House.

“They don’t even know what they can serve or how they can price it on the menu, because nobody knows exactly when or how these tariffs are going to be implemented,” Schumer said.

Schumer will return to Washington to press these anti-tariff bills next Monday.