Democrats vow to fight Trump’s tariffs ‘tooth and nail’ as they slam ‘chaotic trade war’

(WASHINGTON) -- Democrats on Wednesday vowed to fight President Donald Trump's tariffs "tooth and nail" and criticized his policies as having started an "absurd, crazy, chaotic trade war."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held a news conference just hours before Trump's big tariff reveal, where he urged Republicans to join Senate Democrats on a measure to block tariffs on Canadian goods.

"They know they're a tax hike on the American people," he said. "They know that the stock market is in turmoil, risking people's retirements. They know that consumer confidence is down and the odds of a recession --- something people hate, it's harder to find a job, keep a job, maintain your weekly budget if a recession occurs -- and now our greatest financial prognosticators are saying the chances of recession because of these tariffs, this tariff tax, goes way up.

"So, we're going to fight these tariffs tooth and nail. Trump's done a lot of bad things. This is way up there," Schumer said.

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who introduced the resolution to block Trump's tariffs on Canada, said he expected a vote to occur between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET.

Unlike most legislation in the Senate, the resolution will only need a simple majority to pass. Just a handful of Republicans would need to side with Democrats to hit that vote threshold.

President Trump, in an early morning post on his social media platform, pressured Republicans to oppose the measure -- going so far as to call out some specific members of his party by name.

"Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Rand Paul, also of Kentucky, will hopefully get on the Republican bandwagon, for a change," he wrote on his social media platform.

The president added the bill "is just a ploy of the Dems to show and expose the weakness of certain Republicans, namely these four, in that it is not going anywhere because the House will never approve it and I, as your President, will never sign it."

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also preemptively slammed Trump's tariffs, saying they will make goods more costly.

"This is not Liberation Day. It's Recession Day in the United States of America," Jeffries said. "That's what the Trump tariffs are going to do."

Top House Republicans, meanwhile, expressed confidence in President Trump ahead of this Rose Garden unveiling. Though they admitted their may be some "short-term pain" as a result.

"I trust the president's instincts," Speaker Mike Johnson said when asked by ABC News if he's concerned. "We are fully supportive of his initiatives, and we'll see how it all shakes out."

"The president talked in the State of the Union that that may be some short-term pain, ultimately, long term we're going to get more things made in America, and we're going to get fair treatment of America by other countries," said Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

ABC News' Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

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