On April 9, 2025, Bryan Steil, the House member for Wisconsin's 1st District, cast a deciding vote for a House rule that shut off the House's fast route to a vote on ending the emergency behind President Trump's global tariffs; it passed 216 to 215. He voted for similar rules in March and September 2025, each decided by two votes, and on February 11, 2026 he voted against ending the Canada tariff emergency.
Americans paid most of the cost: by the New York Fed's estimate, nearly 90 percent of the 2025 tariffs' burden landed on U.S. firms and consumers before the Supreme Court struck down the emergency tariffs on February 20, 2026. Steil called the tariffs "a tool" to make trade fair, and constituents booed him for defending them at a July 2025 town hall in Elkhorn. In Wisconsin, executive tariffs have cost an estimated $5.5 billion since January 2025.
Bryan Steil's Votes and Statements on the Tariffs
- Steil Cast a Deciding Vote to Block House Votes on the Global Tariffs in April 2025. On April 9, 2025, Bryan Steil voted for H.Res. 313, a House rule that passed 216 to 215, so it could not have passed without his vote; he had also voted to order the previous question on it. The rule declared that "each day during the period from April 9, 2025, through September 30, 2025, shall not constitute a calendar day" for a vote under the National Emergencies Act, which shut off the process the House could use to end the April 2 emergency behind the global "reciprocal" tariffs. New York Fed economists found that "nearly 90 percent of the tariffs' economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers" in 2025. The tariffs stayed in force until February 20, 2026, when the Supreme Court ruled that "IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs."
- Steil Cast a Deciding Vote to Block House Votes on the Canada, Mexico and China Tariffs in March 2025. On March 11, 2025, Steil voted for H.Res. 211, which passed 216 to 214; a switch by him alone would have tied it, and a tie fails. It provided that each remaining day of the session "shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the National Emergencies Act" for a resolution ending the February 1, 2025 emergency behind the Canada, Mexico and China tariffs. In February 2026, "71% of Americans say Trump's tariffs increased the prices they pay for things," according to an Economist/YouGov poll.
- Steil Cast Deciding Votes to Block House Votes on Ending the Brazil Tariffs in September 2025. On September 15, 2025, Steil voted to table a motion to discharge H.J.Res. 117, the resolution ending the Brazil tariff emergency; the tabling motion passed 200 to 198, so a switch by him alone would have defeated it. The next day he voted for H.Res. 707, which passed 213 to 211 and said the National Emergencies Act clock "shall not apply during the period from September 16, 2025, through March 31, 2026" for that emergency. In August 2025 farmdoc daily reported that Brazilian foods "including coffee, beef, tropical fruits (mango, papaya, pineapple), seafood, cocoa, and sugar cane" faced the 50% tariff, and that Brazil supplies coffee "accounting for 34% of total U.S. coffee consumption."
- Steil Voted to Keep the Canada Tariff Emergency in February 2026. On February 11, 2026, Steil voted no on H.J.Res. 72, which would have ended the emergency behind the Canada tariffs; it passed 219 to 211 over his vote. The Canada tariffs stayed in force until the Supreme Court ruled nine days later that the emergency law does not authorize tariffs.
- Steil Called the Tariffs "a Tool" to Make Trade Fair, in March 2025. In a Fox6 story published March 11, 2025, the day of his vote on the Canada, Mexico and China tariff rule, Steil said: "Leveraging these tariffs is a tool to, at the end of the day, make trade free, fair, but also reciprocal, so that our allies and other countries are buying products made, produced and grown in the state of Wisconsin" and across the country. Wisconsin importers have since paid tariffs estimated at $525 million on machinery and parts alone, the hardest-hit category in the state, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
- Steil Was Booed Defending the Tariffs at His Elkhorn Town Hall in July 2025. At a July 31, 2025 listening session at Elkhorn High School, a constituent asked Steil what "dire economic circumstances" justified tariffs on more than 190 countries; Steil answered, "As we look at the broader tariffs back and forth with the administration, this really is, at its core needs to be, an opportunity to make sure other countries are treating the United States fairly," and his response "prompted loud boos from participants," ABC News reported. A week later, at a telephone town hall, he said his goal was to "make China play fairly with regard to tariffs" (Racine County Eye transcript). China answered the tariffs by boycotting American soybeans from late May 2025, and the state's 16,000 soybean growers, whose crop is worth about $1.3 billion a year, lost their biggest foreign buyer until an October 2025 deal: China bought more than half of U.S. soybean exports in 2024; even then, U.S. soybeans still faced a 13% tariff in China, UpNorthNews reported.
What the Tariffs Bryan Steil Shielded and Defended Cost Wisconsin
- Executive tariffs have cost Wisconsin $5.5 billion. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation puts Wisconsin's bill for executive tariffs, including the emergency tariffs Steil voted to shield from House votes, at $5.5 billion since January 2025, 19th-highest among the states and equivalent to $2,179 per Wisconsin household; those costs show up in what Wisconsin families pay for goods and in what manufacturers pay to keep lines running.
- Three-quarters of Wisconsin's tariff bill fell on manufacturers' raw materials and parts. About 76% of Wisconsin's executive tariff costs landed on materials, components and equipment bought by the state's manufacturers, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates, raising what the state's factories pay to make their products.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bryan Steil on Tariffs and Prices
What is Bryan Steil's record on tariffs under Trump?
Bryan Steil cast deciding votes for House rules in March, April and September 2025 that blocked votes on ending the tariff emergencies, including one that passed 216 to 215, and voted against ending the Canada tariff emergency in February 2026. He called the tariffs "a tool" and was booed by constituents over them. Wisconsin's tariff bill has reached an estimated $5.5 billion.
Did Bryan Steil vote to end the Canada tariffs?
No. Bryan Steil voted against H.J.Res. 72, the resolution to end the Canada tariff emergency, on February 11, 2026, and on March 11, 2025 he had voted for a rule that blocked House votes on that emergency, which passed 216 to 214. In a Fox6 story published that day, he said the tariffs were meant to get other countries buying products "grown in the state of Wisconsin".
Could Bryan Steil have forced a House vote on ending the tariffs?
Yes. Bryan Steil's vote decided four House votes in 2025 that kept the tariff emergencies off the floor: the April 9 rule passed 216 to 215, the March 11 rule 216 to 214, the September 16 rule 213 to 211, and the September 15 motion to table the Brazil resolution 200 to 198. A switch by Steil alone on any of them would have defeated it, since a tie fails in the House.
Last updated: 2026-10-26