The Democrats midterm sweep was a rejection of Trump’s trade war
By: by Evan Wexler November 4, 2026 rabble.ca
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Democrats midterm sweep was a rejection of Trump’s trade war
The White House will resume trade talks with Canada from a weakened position.
The United States handed Donald Trump’s second presidential term a thrashing rebuke last night, in a historic midterm election that was as much an indictment of the administration’s wide-reaching unpopularity – as it was about the president’s policies that have led to skyrocketing costs of living for Americans.
Trump was busy consoling himself on Fox News this morning, after having claimed on Truth Social that he would have “ won IN A LANDSLIDE ,” if he had been on the ballot.
But the president, in fact, was on the ballot – and so was the widespread perception of corruption throughout his administration, his extremely unpopular war with Iran, as well as his similarly unwanted tariffs and trade wars.
Polling from before the midterm election suggested that only a quarter of Americans were in favour of tariffs. Heading into yesterday’s elections, 75 per cent of Americans were reporting that they were concerned about being able to put food on the table, and affording the basic costs of living.
There still remains confusion, though, on whether foreign companies bear the cost of tariffs or whether the American consumer absorbs the cost.
Spoiler: In the end, the customer always pays.
James Talarico, who was elected last night to become Texas’ first democratic senator in 33 years, had campaigned on a promise to eliminate the tariffs as soon as he got to office. This makes sense, given that trade between Texas and Canada totalled $69.2 billion in 2025 , making Canada Texas’ second-largest trading partner, behind Mexico, and that tariffs have put livelihoods and industries at risk on both sides of the U.S. and Canadian border.
Meanwhile, in Maine, as a last-ditch effort to help Susan Collins, the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, Trump agreed last week to exempt some of the state’s Canadian imports from the 50 per cent tariffs.
Perhaps it was too little too late, or perhaps it was the fac that despite her efforts, Collins could not escape her connections with Trump. She nevertheless lost her seat, last night, to Democrat Troy Jackson.
Collins had indeed been periodically critical of the tariffs throughout Trump’s trade war with Canada and had repeatedly asked for tariff relief from Trump to ease the economic strain with Maine’s largest trading partner. Collins asked the administration directly in September to remove tariffs on cement, after facing pressure from local businesses who appealed to her for help. Two-way trade between Canada and Maine exceeds $6 billion per year.
In Michigan, both senate candidates were against the trade war and ultimately wanted to see the end of tariffs on Canada, and vice versa.
In many ways, the race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed (who won) and Republican Mike Rogers (who lost) came to symbolize the fact that, in certain areas across the U.S., the electorate was voting on the U.S. trade war with Canada as much as any other domestic issue.
In August, Rogers, who was endorsed by Trump, praised the tariffs as “necessary.” But by October he was running an ad of himself drinking a Labatt Blue and saying that the U.S. needs to end the trade war. The Republican’s about-face on tariffs, in addition to the left-wing populist message of El-Sayed, likely cost him the election.
El-Sayed, for his part, did maintain a firm position against the trade war throughout his campaign, calling it a “vanity trade war.” Now, in one of many historic firsts in this midterm election, El-Sayed will become the United States’ first Muslim senator when he takes office this January.
In Alaska, the Senate race remains close and could still take some time to resolve, but if Democrat Mary Peltola does win, that race could also turn out to have been somewhat of a referendum on the trade war.
Arguably, Peltola’s campaign had been beset by the revelations that its operatives were behind the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., (a.k.a “Decoy Dan”) an attempt to stack the ballot and draw votes away from the state’s incumbent senator Dan S. Sullivan.
In the end, this might not matter, if the economic pain Alaskans are feeling as a result of the trade war superseded their concerns about the Democrats campaign tactics.
Throughout the campaign, Senator Sullivan has shown quiet support for Trump’s tariffs, and he had taken adversarial positions against Canada during the trade war, threatening to lift a law that forces U.S. cruise ships to stop in B.C. on their way to his state. Peltola’s campaign took advantage of these unpopular stances in her appeal to Alaskan voters to replace the sitting Senator.
Because of its geographic position, Alaska relies on Canadian trade more than any other state in the U.S. and the tariffs are more acute as a result of this dependency. The state imports more than $1 billion in goods annually and exports more than $600 million in goods to Canada.
Now that Trump has told voters continuously, for weeks, to “Pretend I’m on the ballot,’ and in key races across the country, from South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Maine, Ohio, Kansas and Michigan, his endorsements turned out to be toxic – negotiations on the next phase of the trade relationship with Canada could take a fresh direction, and perhaps one that is more favourable to Canada.
New reports are starting to suggest that United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer is privately pushing Trump to de-escalate the Canadian trade war, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says U.S. is suddenly ‘ asking less and offering more .’
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There is no doubt that the Trade War unjustifiably started and continued by Trump had at least some effect on the midterm results.
All Trump did was put into action all the republican talking points that they claimed would create a better America.
Unfortunately it has shown that they don't, in fact their policies have made everything worse except for the income of the richest 1%.
Of course.
It was a rejection of everything that asshole and his administration is composed of.
Math and a backbone appeared to be problematic for Collins.
30 years later going for a 6th term...shameless.