You’ve probably heard that the Democrats captured Congress in the U.S. midterm elections.
Congress is the U.S.’s parliament: it makes federal laws (applied across the country) and controls federal spending.
It has two chambers: the House of Representatives (435 members; each representing a local district, i.e. a slice of a state, and bigger states get more seats) and the Senate (100 senators; two per state).
In the midterms, all 435 House seats were up, plus 35 Senate seats. The new Congress takes over 3 January 2027.
With Democrats now in the majority, you’re probably wondering what this means for the rest of the world.
Let’s get into it.
1. Iran
When the U.S. unlawfully attacked Iran on 28 February, Congress had not approved.
After several failed attempts, Congress passed a war powers resolution in June 2026 telling Trump to stop military action, but the White House dismissed it.
Money is Congress’ stronger weapon. Trump can keep spending money already allocated for military operations, but Democrats could refuse to approve new funding.
2. Tariffs
The Democrats’ win doesn’t remove any of Trump’s tariffs (illegal under international law).
They’re based on older laws where Congress handed tariff powers to the President.
But Congress can pass new laws that narrow Trump’s powers to issue tariffs, or that say tariffs need Congress’s approval first.
The catch is that Trump can veto (block) any new bill. Congress can only override a veto if two-thirds of both chambers vote for it. So this can only happen if a good number of Republicans join in, too.
3. Russia/Ukraine
In September, Congress passed tough new sanctions on Russia with strong support from both parties. The sanctions respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a clear violation of international law.
But the law included a waiver clause (sec. 115), and not long after signing it, Trump used that clause to waive most of the new measures.
Separately, he made a deal with Putin to import Russian diesel, suspending US sanctions on it until April 2027.
Congress can now try to remove the waiver for sanctions, and block the diesel deal.
But as with tariffs, any new law needs Trump’s signature. If he vetoes it, Congress needs two-thirds of both chambers to override, which means Republicans also need to agree.
4. Israel/Palestine
Congress controls the money and can cut how much aid Israel gets going forward.
On election day, Trump said the US would stop giving Israel about $4 billion a year in aid from 2027.
He said this was partly to remove a “bad talking point” Democrats were using against Republicans. But since Congress controls this money, he can’t cut aid on his own.
Congress could also try to block specific weapons sales – but this needs a law, which Trump could veto (though two-thirds of both chambers can override).
It could also look into how the Biden and Trump administrations were involved in Israel’s campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, including the use of U.S. weapons.
But none of this is guaranteed, as Democrats have been split on Israel for some time.
Basically, a new Congress can’t immediately override Trump on foreign policy, but can make his life very difficult by holding back on money, investigating, and building alliances with Republicans to eventually pass new laws. Whether that’s enough will become clear over the next two years.
When the euphoric high has subsided from this victory of rationality over zealotry and stupidity one wonders what will change. If the Democrats waste the opportunity they have been given to firstly reform themselves and secondly reform the country Americans are in for an even bigger disappointment. A starting point must surely be to overturn and transform the existing democratic leadership and how it operates.