Yesterday the U.S. Senate defeated a bill championed by Automotive News that would have reined in President Donald Trump’s tariffs. If we are being reality based, that bill had zero likelihood of getting passed into law. Its main value was to put pressure on Trump to pull back from his aggressive approach to tariffs.
That said, the editorial board of Automotive News (2025a) might want to take note of why the bill didn’t pass the Senate even though it had — at least on paper — enough support. The vote was taken when Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse was traveling back to the U.S. from South Korea (McHardy, 2025).
In addition, Senate Majority Leader John Thune was able to “quickly to kill the measure for good before supporters could muster a successful vote on a later date” (Morgan, 2025).
Was Mitch McConnell really too sick to vote?
The resolution garnered a 49-49 tie that was broken by Vice President J.D. Vance. Three Republicans voted for the bill: Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Mitch McConnell was also expected to vote on the resolution (McHardy, 2025).
Democrats have expressed frustration with Whitehouse’s absence, but McConnell could have also been the decisive vote. He later reiterated his support for the resolution but said he had been too under the weather to vote (McHardy, 2025). Was that true or was he trying to avoid Trump’s wrath if the bill had passed?
Paul did not give up on the issue, arguing that “if a month from now, we have massive tariffs go on and we have a massive sell off in the stock market, and we didn’t have a first good quarter in growth, and if it’s worse again in the second quarter, people would start asking, ‘Is it good policy, or is it a bad policy?'” (Neukam and Kight, 2025).
How serious is Automotive News about reining in tariffs?
This brings us back to the Automotive News (2025a) editorial board. Last month an unsigned editorial called for the passage of this resolution, which “would effectively restore Congress’ role in regulating trade.”
The fundamental problem is that Trump has such a strong hold on the Republican-controlled House and Senate that it is unlikely to act as a substantive check on his tariff policies unless the Democrats retake at least the House in 2026.
Let me reiterate a question I asked in a post last week: Will Automotive News put political necessity above its traditional affinity for Republicans? For example, will it criticize former car dealer Senator Bernie Moreno for supporting Trump’s tariff policies? What about senators Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson for expressing concerns about tariffs but not voting for the resolution (Hilu, 2025)?
Whether we like it or not, over the next few years the auto industry will be significantly impacted by national politics. If Automotive News (2025) fancies itself as the “definitive source of information for leaders in the auto industry,” it will need to increase the depth and sophistication of its political analysis.
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RE:SOURCES
- Automotive News; 2025a. “In our opinion: Bipartisan bill to restore tariff sanity deserves wide support.” Unsigned editorial posted March 10.
- ——; 2025b. “About.” Page accessed May 1.
- Hilu, Charles; 2025. “Senate Stammers Toward Reining In Trump’s Tariffs.” The Dispatch via AOL. Posted April 3.
- McHardy, Martha; 2025. “Democrat Skipping Trump Tariff Vote Sparks Anger.” Newsweek. Posted May 1.
- Morgan, David; 2025. “US Senate rejects bill to rein in Trump tariffs as economy contracts.” Reuters. Posted April 30.
- Neukam, Stephen and Stef W. Kight; 2025. “Senate GOP leaders succeed in protecting Trump tariffs.” Axios. Posted April 30.
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