Donald Trump has revealed when $2,000 payouts could be sent out after previously promising to give that amount of money to almost everyone in America.
Last week, the president announced on Truth Social that every American will receive a “dividend of at least $2000” thanks to the nation’s newfound wealth from his tariff policies.
The 79-year-old framed this payout as a result of the tariffs he has implemented, which he argues have made the US the “richest, most respected country in the world”.
“People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!” he wrote. “With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER. We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion.
“Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place.”
When Will The Cheques Go Out?
The president confirmed on Friday that his much-hyped tariff dividend payments won’t be ready until 2026.
“It will be next year… The tariffs allow us to give a dividend. We’re going to do a dividend and we’re also going to be reducing debt,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, per The New York Post.
The checks, aimed at families earning under a certain income threshold, would be funded through Trump’s aggressive tariff policy, a strategy now facing serious legal and logistical hurdles.
“We will see,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a recent Fox Business interview, when asked if the plan would happen at all. “We need legislation for that.”
A Bumpy Road Ahead
The $2,000 payments were pitched by Trump as a “dividend” from tariff revenues, but they would need congressional approval, which is far from guaranteed.
Though the president has insisted the rebates would be limited to working families, specifics remain unclear.
Bessent floated a possible income cap of $100,000 during an appearance on Fox & Friends last week, but quickly added that the matter remained “in discussion” and that a limit had yet to be agreed.
Even the form of the payments is undecided. Bessent previously said the money “could come in lots of forms”, hinting at tax credits or other benefits potentially tied to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
There’s also the issue of funding, as Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs – an unconventional use of a statute that doesn’t mention tariffs at all – have generated around $90 billion since their inception through September 23, according to US Customs and Border Patrol.
Overall, Trump’s full slate of tariffs brought in $195.9 billion through August 31 of the fiscal year 2025.
But that’s still far short of the estimated cost, as Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, estimated that limiting the checks to individuals earning under $100,000 would cost about $300 billion.
Legal storm clouds threaten the entire plan
The funding mechanism for Trump’s payout is now in jeopardy, as the Supreme Court considers whether his use of IEEPA to impose tariffs is even constitutional.
Justices have sounded uncertain, and several lower courts have already ruled his interpretation unlawful.
If the court strikes down the IEEPA tariffs, it could eliminate a major chunk of the revenue Trump is counting on, and possibly force the government to refund what’s already been collected.
When asked if he’d still move forward with the dividend checks if the Supreme Court overturns his tariffs, Trump said: “Then I’d have to do something else.”
The Supreme Court is also reviewing approximately half of the $100 billion in tariff revenue Trump hoped to use, injecting even more uncertainty into the future of the checks.
Despite all that, the president has remained confident in the idea and adamant that “high-income people” will be excluded from the benefit, though he still hasn’t defined what qualifies as “high income”.
