Trump says he wants to give $2,000 dividends using tariff revenue
President Donald Trump said a dividend of “at least 2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone” using tariff revenue. This proposal, which he has floated before, would still need congressional approval.
He made the announcement on Truth Social Sunday, adding that “people that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!”
According to the Treasury Department, the federal government took in $195 billion because of tariffs during fiscal year 2025.
On ABC News’ “This Week”, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the next few years, the U.S. could take in “trillions of dollars.”
“The real goal of the tariffs is to re-balance trade and make it more fair,” he said in the Sunday interview with George Stephanopoulos. Pressed on how the $2,000 dividend would be paid to people, Bessent said that it’s not about “taking in the revenue, it’s about re-balancing.”
“The revenue occurs early on,” he said. “And then as we rebalance and the jobs come home, then it becomes domestic tax revenue.”
Even as Trump administration officials defend the imposition of global tariffs on multiple countries, economists say they are contributing to higher prices for U.S. consumers.
Supreme Court skeptical of Trump tariffs
Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism over the legality of Trump’s tariffs during almost three hours of oral arguments this week. Although the court’s conservative majority has sided with Trump on several cases this year, both they and liberal justices questioned the tariffs.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer defended tariffs, saying the Trump administration was using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 in enacting them. This act gives the president the ability to impose tariffs and other sanctions during national emergencies.
The attorney representing private businesses that challenged Trump’s tariffs, Neal Katyal, argued “this is not wartime” and thus, the taxes are not necessary.
Trump “has torn up the entire tariff architecture,” he said.
“This is not something that any president has had the power to do in our history,” Katyal added.
Justices also said the Trump administration’s interpretation of the IEEPA is overly broad.
“So [President Joe] Biden could have declared a national emergency, and global warming, and then gotten his student forgiveness?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
