Trump announced on Truth Social on Nov. 9, 2025 that he would pay a dividend of at least $2,000 per person (not including high-income people) to everyone, claiming the US is taking in trillions of dollars from tariffs. He posted that a dividend would be paid while using remaining tariff revenue to lower the $37 trillion national debt. The announcement came days after both liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices cast doubt on his administration's authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act during oral arguments.

On Nov. 14, 2025, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the checks won't come this year. When asked about timing, he said No, no. Not for this year. It'll be next year sometime. He was flying to Mar-a-Lago when he made the comments. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump's team is mulling all options and that the president made it clear he wants to make it happen with his economic advisers looking into it.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cast doubt on the plan hours after Trump's Truth Social announcement. Speaking on ABC's This Week on Nov. 10, Bessent said the $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms including tax cuts already passed in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill legislation. Bessent said it could be just the tax decreases on the president's agenda like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. He added that he had not spoken with Trump about the proposal.

Budget experts say there isn't enough tariff revenue to fund the payments. Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said if the payments went to people making under $100,000 per year (about 150 million adults), that would cost near $300 billion. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the cost would be about $600 billion if designed like COVID-era Economic Impact Payments which went to both adults and children. Current tariffs have raised about $100 billion so far and will raise about $300 billion per year in the steady state according to CRFB.

The federal government generated $195 billion in tariff-related revenue in fiscal year 2025 which ended Sept. 30, according to Treasury Department data. York estimated that when factoring in only revenue generated by Trump's new tariffs and deducting negative budgetary impacts from those policies, net tariff revenues equal only $90 billion, falling far short of the $300 billion required for payments to those earning $100,000 or less. The Congressional Budget Office reported in August that tariffs could bring in $4 trillion over the next decade, but that report came with caveats and noted tariffs will raise consumer prices and reduce purchasing power of US families.

The proposal mirrors three stimulus checks mailed during the pandemic, two authorized by Trump, which totaled as much as $3,200 per tax filer plus $2,500 per child according to the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee. Two pandemic-era stimulus checks went to single filers making up to $75,000 and married couples making up to $150,000, with reduced payments for higher earners. Trump has not specified income cutoffs for the tariff dividend or whether children would qualify.

No formal plan exists and Congress hasn't approved any legislation. Until Congress passes a bill and a president signs it, the $2,000 tariff-funded payment remains a political idea rather than a guaranteed check. Only Congress is authorized to spend federal dollars. Building and testing systems to send nationwide payments would likely take months even if a bill moved quickly. Legal questions surrounding the scope of presidential tariff powers could also affect timing and shape of any final program.

Trump made similar promises about DOGE savings in February 2025, saying we're considering giving 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% to paying down the debt, though checks never came to fruition. Aboard Air Force One on Nov. 14, Trump said tariff revenue might be used to pay down national debt, raising questions about how much federal funding would be needed to do both the dividend and debt reduction. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Nov. 7 on the legality of Trump's tariffs, with justices sounding skeptical of the president's authority and concerned tariffs effectively act as revenue-raising taxes rather than mechanisms to solve trade emergencies.