Donald Trump has vowed to give a $2,000 check to every American, thanks to the tariff revenue his administration has collected.
The president made the exciting announcement on Sunday morning – blasting those who hated on his tariff strategy as ‘fools.’
He said that the dividend of at least $2,000 would be paid to everyone, bar ‘high income people,’ although he did not state what the threshold for that would be.
The president also generally lauded the state of the US, calling it ‘the most respected country in the world.’ He said there is ‘almost no inflation, and a record stock market price.’
Trump cited ‘trillions of dollars’ of tariff income and said the money would soon go to paying the country’s ‘enormous debt’ of $37trillion.
The Truth Social post comes after the Supreme Court questioned the legality of his use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on almost every country in the world – allies and enemies alike.
The US collected around $151billion in tariff revenue between April and October, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he expected the US will collect at least $500billion in tariff revenue per year.
President Donald Trump has vowed to give a $2,000 check to every American, thanks to the tariff revenue his administration has collected
The Truth Social post comes after the Supreme Court questioned the legality of his use of emergency powers to impose tariffs on almost every country in the world
But with the legality of those tariffs now in question, it is unclear what would happen to the money that has already been collected, or whether Trump will be able to fulfill his just-announced dividend and debt reduction promises.
The US government has spent $7trillion in fiscal year 2025, which is $1.78trillion more than it collected over the same period, according to US Treasury Fiscal Data.
An extra $500billion in revenue would slice into that deficit by a little less than a third.
Before the Supreme Court heard the tariff case, several lower courts had determined the president’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs was illegal.
The first decision was made by a specialized federal trade court in New York in May, and it was largely upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in August before the case made its way to the nation’s highest court.
The key difference in the lower court of appeals’ decision was tossing out a part of the initial ruling that stated the tariffs must be struck down immediately.
At the time, Trump wrote on Truth Social: ‘ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end.
‘If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong.’
The US collected around $151billion in tariff revenue between April and October, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Tariffs led many car buyers to rush to showrooms in an attempt to lock in deals before potential price hikes caused by supply-chain disruptions
After the president’s Sunday morning post pledging a $2,000 dividend to all Americans, he made a couple more posts railing against the Supreme Court’s position on his tariffs.
Four minutes after the first post, he wrote: ‘WITHOUT TARIFFS, WE HAVE NONE OF THE FOLLOWING (JUST POSTED) TRUTH!!! President DJT.’
A little less than an hour later, he made another post which said: ‘So, let’s get this straight??? The President of the United States is allowed (and fully approved by Congress!) to stop ALL TRADE with a Foreign Country (Which is far more onerous than a Tariff!), and LICENSE a Foreign Country, but is not allowed to put a simple Tariff on a Foreign Country, even for purposes of NATIONAL SECURITY.
‘That is NOT what our great Founders had in mind! The whole thing is ridiculous! Other Countries can Tariff us, but we can’t Tariff them??? It is their DREAM!!! Businesses are pouring into the USA ONLY BECAUSE OF TARIFFS. HAS THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT NOT BEEN TOLD THIS??? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???President DJT.’
