President Donald Trump has suggested that the majority of Americans could receive $2,000 in dividends, claiming that the U.S. is bringing in “trillions of dollars” due to an influx of tariff revenue.
“People that are against tariffs are fools. We are now the richest, most respected country in the world. We are taking in trillions of dollars and will soon begin paying down our enormous debt… Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place,” claimed Trump via Truth Social. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high-income people) will be paid to everyone.”
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This isn’t the first time Trump has floated the idea of paying some kind of stimulus check or tax rebate to the majority of Americans as a direct result of the money raised from tariffs. But thus far, the promise has yet to be enacted by his Administration.
Here’s what you need to know about the idea put forward by Trump, why experts have challenged the suggestion, and where things currently stand with the legal battle over the aforementioned tariffs.
What exactly is Trump proposing and where would the dividend come from?
Trump is proposing a $2,000 payment for Americans, except “high-income” people. (The President failed to specify who would qualify as “high-income” by his estimation.)
The dividend would come from the funds gained via Trump’s global tariffs, which have been a source of revenue and controversy since he initially announced the various levies during his self-titled “Liberation Day” earlier this year.
The President said that the tariff revenue would also soon begin paying off the national debt, which is listed as over $38 trillion.
During an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he is yet to speak with Trump about his latest promise to supply most Americans with these funds.
“The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms… It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the President’s agenda. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility of auto loans,” said Bessent, listing possible ways in which the $2,000 payment could come to fruition.
When has Trump previously floated this idea?
The possibility of most Americans receiving some kind of payment from tariff revenue has previously been floated by Trump.
On July 25, when talking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said: “We have so much money coming in [from tariffs], we’re thinking about a little rebate… a little rebate for people of a certain income level might be nice.”
Just over a week later, the President spoke again about the possibility of a rebate for Americans from tariff earnings.
“There could be a distribution or dividend to the people of our country. I would say for people that would be middle-income people and lower-income people, we could do a dividend,” he said.
In an interview on Oct. 1 with One America News, Trump again said that tariff revenue would be used to pay off national debt, but could also go towards a dividend.
“We also might make a distribution to the people,” said Trump, floating that the figure would be between $1,000-$2,000.
What challenges could Trump encounter, according to experts?
An immediate issue that arises with the potential total of the dividend is how much it would actually cost. Should the payment be made to Americans from low and middle-income households, this would include over 80% of the total U.S. population, per a Pew Research study from last year, or over 274 million people.
Erica York, Vice President of the non-partisan think tank Tax Foundation, has warned about the lack of funds, should such a payments be implemented.
“The President just proposed a $2,000 tariff ‘dividend’ for each person, excluding high-income earners,” she remarked via social media. “If the cutoff is $100,000, 150M adults would qualify, for a cost near $300 billion. If kids qualify, that grows. Only problem, new tariffs have raised $120 billion so far.”
“The math gets worse accounting for the full budgetary impact of tariffs: a dollar of tariff revenue offsets about 24 cents of income and payroll tax revenue,” York continued, adding “adjusting for that, tariffs have raised $90 billion of net revenues compared to Trump’s proposed $300 billion rebate.”
Read More: The Chaotic, Fantastical World of Donald Trump’s Tariffs
What is the current status of Trump’s tariffs battle?
Trump’s tariffs are currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court in a high-stakes case, of which he has been vocal in his disapproval.
The court heard oral arguments last week, and a number of justices expressed concern about how the White House justified Trump’s import duties.