Warning signs flashed this week, suggesting that Donald Trump’s tariffs began to undermine the stability at the beginning of his term, which seemed like a solid economy. But in Congress, Republican leaders did their best to protect his iconic trade policy.

The threat comes in the form of a Senate resolution sponsored by Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Ron Wyden, which targets taxes and looks much like passing a room where the Republican majority had barely shown a willingness to boycott the president before. But even before the first vote, Trump and his allies moved to make sure it was nowhere to go.

First, the White House issued a veto threat to the resolution, which would repeal the national emergency announced earlier this month, demanding a 10% tariff on imports and briefly impose higher taxes on many trading partners. The Republican-controlled House then enacted a rule to prevent Senate resolutions until at least the end of September.

When the resolution voted in the Senate on Wednesday, Conservative Conservative Paul described regaining what was necessary to regain the Congressional Powers and begged fellow Republicans to get on the bus.

"The founders would not expect the House of Lords, the Senate, to let new regulations use statutes traditionally used to sanction opponents be used to tariffs, tax the American people and keep it unchallenged. This is not constitutionalism. It is cowardly," said the Kentucky legislator.

When all the Democrats in attendance voted for the bill, only moderate Republican Lisa Murkowski and Maine's Susan Collins listened to Paul, the measure was deadlocked, with 49 votes in favor and against. Shortly after, Vice President JD Vance appeared in the Capitol, breaking the tie of a procedural campaign, which left the resolution permanently dead.

Trump has taken action to ensure a similar fate will come to any other attempt to undermine his tariffs in the Senate. He threatened to veto a bipartisan bill that would set a 60-day deadline for Congress to approve the new tariff, and a resolution to block his tariffs on Canada that passed the room to make it in the room but had stopped in the House.

Economists say this week's vote was against the release of data, showing that the U.S. economy shrank in the first three months of the year, the first contraction since 2022, which economists say is a rush in imports caused by dissatisfaction with the new president's trade policy.

“The culprit is undoubtedly Donald Trump and his meaningless global tariffs,” Wyden said upstairs in the Senate. “If this is still our tariff policy, then unfortunately every major economist and forecaster predicted recession, job loss and the pain of our news feed this morning.”

If Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse and Republican Mitch McConnell showed up on those targeting tariffs, the vote could be successful. But Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Thursday that the situation is a "win-win" because it has a chance to give Republicans a record of supporting taxes.

"We have forced them to vote on tariffs several times, and we may try to do it again," Schumer said, adding that he expects the policy to be submitted as Republicans negotiate an upcoming bill expected to ratify Trump's tax and immigration policy, while cutting the Social Security Net program.

"The Republicans own it. They care so much about the tariffs, they have to bring JD Vance in and break the 50-49 draw, and now they have it... they are trapped."

Better economic news came Friday when government data showed people employed by employers hiring for April. Earlier this week, House Speaker and avid defender of Trump’s agenda, Mike Johnson acknowledged a “hard starting point” for tariff policies, but described it as a gamble.

"Currently, even today, people are starting to see the dust settle. They understand there is a major strategy behind this, and they are seeing the results," Johnson said in a press conference on Tuesday. "We will have 100 countries (from some cases, which may be higher) renegotiating their trade policy with the United States."

When asked why he adopted a parliamentary strategy to prevent consideration of the Senate’s attempt to revoke Trump’s tariffs, Johnson replied: “We are using House rules to prevent political robbery and political stunts. That’s what Democrats have.”