Donald Trump said Sunday that he is considering giving most Americans a $2,000 check funded by tariff revenues, in what appears to be an effort to build public support for his trade policies, the Guardian reports. "A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone," Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday, adding that those who oppose tariffs are "FOOLS!" He's floated the idea of tying stimulus payments to tariff income multiple times in the past, but nothing has come of it yet. As of Oct. 17, consumers faced an average effective tariff rate of 18%, the Hill reports.
To implement such a plan, however, congressional approval would likely be needed. Earlier this year, Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a bill for a $600 tariff rebate for most Americans, arguing that the public should benefit directly from tariff collections. Yet, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in August that the administration's priority is using tariff revenue to pay down the $38 trillion national debt, not to issue rebate checks. Bessent said he had not yet discussed Trump's latest $2,000 check idea with the president, NBC News reports.
The Treasury Department reported collecting $195 billion in customs duties in the first three quarters of the year. But analysts say that providing $2,000 to each eligible adult could easily far exceed the revenue generated by tariffs. Erica York of the Tax Foundation estimated that if the cutoff is set at $100,000 in annual income, about 150 million adults would qualify, costing roughly $300 billion. And, she adds, "The math gets worse accounting for the full budgetary impact of tariffs." She estimates tariffs have only raised $90 billion in net revenues when adjusted for that. (Trump recently agreed Americans are "paying something" for tariffs.)
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