Trump Floats $2,000 “Tariff Dividend” for Most Americans, Citing “Trillions” in Revenue

President Donald Trump has suggested that the majority of Americans could soon receive $2,000 in dividends, claiming that the U.S. is bringing in “trillions of dollars” through his administration’s expanded tariffs.

“People that are against tariffs are fools,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “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. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high-income people) will be paid to everyone.”

Trump doubled down on the proposal Monday, saying that “all money left over from the $2000 payments” would be used to reduce the national debt, which currently exceeds $38 trillion.

The president’s comments mark the latest in a series of unfulfilled promises to use tariff revenue to deliver financial relief to Americans. The so-called “tariff dividend” would exclude “high-income” earners, though Trump has not defined what income level would fall into that category.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, appearing Sunday on ABC’s This Week, said he had not yet discussed the idea directly with the president but indicated that the proposal could take multiple forms. “The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms,” Bessent said. “It could be just the tax decreases 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.”

Trump has repeatedly floated similar ideas throughout the year. In July, he told reporters that the United States was “thinking about a little rebate” from tariff income. Later that month, he said, “There could be a distribution or dividend to the people of our country… middle-income people and lower-income people.” In October, during an interview with One America News, Trump suggested that such a payment might range from $1,000 to $2,000 per person.

However, economic experts have challenged both the math and the feasibility of the president’s proposal. Erica York, vice president of the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, estimated that a $2,000 payment to low- and middle-income adults would cost around $300 billion, not including children.

“If the cutoff is $100,000, 150 million adults would qualify, for a cost near $300 billion,” York wrote on social media. “Only problem: new tariffs have raised $120 billion so far.” She added that the net revenue from tariffs is even lower when factoring in economic effects, estimating that only about $90 billion in net revenue has been raised.

Trump’s tariff policies are currently under review by the Supreme Court, where justices recently questioned the administration’s legal justification for its wide-ranging import duties. The outcome of that case could determine the scope of the president’s ability to continue imposing—and profiting from—tariffs as a primary revenue source.