Trump proposes sending $2,000 checks to Americans after raking in trillions in tariff
Donald Trump is considering giving Americans a cut of up to $2,000 of the revenues from his signature tariff program.
The president said that, while the ‘hundreds of billions’ in funds will mostly be used to pay off the national debt, ‘we also might make a distribution to the people.’
‘We’re thinking maybe $1,000 to $2,000 – it would be great,’ he told OANN, adding that it would be a ‘almost like a dividend to the people of America.’
Such a move would require approval from an already divided Congress.
Rebate aside, Trump pressed that the national debt was going to be a priority for those revenues.
‘Number one, we’re paying down debt, because people have allowed the debt to go crazy.’
However, he said the $37trillion debt will be ‘very little, relatively speaking’ in the context of the money the tariffs are generating.
Washington has made approximately $215billion in revenues from the tariff program since it was launched in April, Fox Business reported.
Donald Trump is considering giving Americans a cut of up to $2,000 of the revenues from his signature tariff program
Washington has made approximately $215billion in revenues from the tariff program since it was launched in April
The president has toyed with the rebate idea for much of 2025 and Republican Senator Josh Hawley has attempted to pass the American Worker Rebate Act to make it law.
Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, proposed legislation in July to provide tariff rebate checks to families similar to the stimulus checks the government distributed during the COVID pandemic.
The amount received varies by family but typically includes at least $600 per adult and child, totaling $2,400 for a family of four.
The week before Hawley proposed the law, Trump expressed his support for the idea but remained on message about the debt.
‘We’re thinking about a little rebate but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt. But we’re thinking about a rebate.’
Hawley moved forward with his American Worker Rebate Act after Trump’s comments.
‘Like President Trump proposed, my legislation would allow hard-working Americans to benefit from the wealth that Trump’s tariffs are returning to this country,’ he said in a statement.
Tariffs are a tax imposed by foreign nations, paid by domestic companies that import goods or services.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri proposed the rebate program
So far most companies are absorbing the increased costs instead of passing them on to the consumer.
However, prices could still rise.
Hawley’s program, which still needs to be passed by Congress, would be set up as a refundable tax credit, with the government sending checks this year should it become law.
And there is flexibility in the proposal depending on a person’s income levels.
For example, the bill would reduce the rebate by 5% for joint filers who have adjusted gross income in excess of $150,000, a head of household whose income exceeds $112,500 and an individual taxpayer whose income exceeds $75,000.
In early April, Trump announced a 10% blanket tariff rate, along with higher individualized rates of up to 50% for dozens of countries.
In the ensuing stock market panic, he paused them for 90 days, which would have seen them restart on July 9.
Then he initiated another pause until August 1.
Trump went on a tear signing deals with countries in the runup to that deadline.
In Scotland, he came to a trade agreement with the European Union. It gives the EU a 15% tariff across the board.
The president called it ‘the biggest deal ever made.’
Without the deal, Trump had threatened the EU’s 27 member countries with a 30% tariff rate.