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'Are they alleging that fentanyl is coming from Sweden?': Sen. Paul questions Trump administration's tariff rationale

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on the nomination of Martin Makary to serve as Commissioner of Food and Drugs at the Department of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
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FR159526 AP
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks during the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on the nomination of Martin Makary to serve as Commissioner of Food and Drugs at the Department of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The U.S. Senate rejected a resolution late Wednesday that could have effectively blocked Trump’s sweeping tariffs by rescinding the emergency order the president is using to enact them. A Kentucky senator was one of three Republican lawmakers to join the Democrats in voting for the resolution.

Sen. Rand Paul, a cosponsor of the resolution — along with Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski — voted to advance the measure rebuffing President Trump over the long list of tariffs imposed on what he dubbed "Liberation Day" on April 2.

The vote fell short, in part due to the absence of Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, leaving Vice President JD Vance to break the tie in favor of the president's tariffs.

Paul told Fox Business, in addition to being opposed to tariffs as a trade policy, he doesn't believe the emergency authority being invoked by the president is a good justification.

"It's about whether we're going to run a country under emergencies," Paul said. "With the previous emergency with Canada and Mexico, they said, 'oh, it was fentanyl.' I don't know, are they alleging that fentanyl is coming from Sweden or Finland or Monaco? It's emergency for 80 some odd countries. And through that emergency, then they're instituting a tax, which is a tariff, without the authority of Congress."

But even if the resolution had passed the Senate, it was unlikely to make its way through the GOP controlled House.