Washington: The Republican Party in the US Senate narrowly voted against a Democratic bill that would have prevented the imposition of global tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump earlier last month, handing the president a narrow victory.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, on April 2, Trump announced sweeping tariffs on nearly all US trading partners. He then reversed the decision a few days later, due to a market collapse, and suspended the imposition of tariffs on imports for 90 days. Amid this uncertainty facing American consumers and businesses, the Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that the US economy contracted by 0.3% between January and March, marking the first economic decline in three years.

The vote came weeks after the Senate approved a previous resolution that would have restricted Trump’s ability to impose tariffs on Canada. The resolution passed by a vote of 51 to 48. Democrats said their primary goal with the resolution was to push Republicans to make their positions clear and to attempt to reassert Congress’s authority.