President Trump said Thursday that he is still weighing a plan to send Americans rebate checks of up to $2,000, funded directly from the revenues generated by his sweeping tariff agenda.
Since April, when Trump placed heavy tariffs on foreign nations, the federal government has collected hundreds of billions of dollars in new revenue. Now, with the Supreme Court preparing to hear arguments next month on whether a president has the authority to impose such broad global tariffs, Trump is signaling that a portion of those funds could go straight back to the American people.
“They’re just starting to kick in,” Trump told One America News Network, noting that tariff collections could eventually top “over a trillion dollars a year.”
When asked how those revenues might be used, the president explained: “Number one, we’re paying down debt, because people have allowed the debt to go crazy.” At the same time, he argued that the $37 trillion national debt is “very little, relatively speaking” given the record-breaking tariff income.
“With that being said, we’ll pay back debt, but we also might make a distribution to the people,” Trump continued, describing the idea as “a dividend to the people of America.” He suggested the rebate could range from $1,000 to $2,000 per person.
Any such distribution would require approval from Congress. According to Treasury Department figures cited by Fox Business, the federal government has collected about $214.9 billion in tariff revenue so far this year. In September alone, tariffs brought in $31.3 billion, slightly below the August peak. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has projected total revenues could exceed $300 billion by year’s end.
Still, legal challenges loom. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that most of Trump’s tariffs are not justified under existing emergency powers law, echoing earlier lower-court rulings. The decision left the tariffs in place while the administration appeals to the Supreme Court, which will hear the case in early November.
In filings, Bessent warned that a ruling against the president’s authority could force the government to refund between $750 billion and $1 trillion in tariff collections and projected revenues.