Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in an interview with Fox & Friends, claimed that the Trump administration is considering limiting President Donald Trump’s proposed $2,000 “tariff dividend” to families earning less than $100,000 a year.
Last week, after a tense Supreme Court hearing over Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs, US President Trump introduced the idea of a $2,000 dividend for Americans. However, he did not share details on how it would actually work.
“People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
What is the income limit on Trump’s $2,000 tariff cheques?
Bessent explained, “There are a lot of options the president is looking at. The $2,000 rebate would be for families making less than, say, $100,000.” When pressed further, he clarified that no final decision has been made yet, adding, “It’s still being discussed.”
In a separate interview with ABC’s This Week, Bessent said the dividend “could come in lots of forms.” He added that it might even appear as part of tax cuts that were already rolled out under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Trump signed the bill earlier this year.
Bessent said these tax benefits were already helping Americans. “What we did with the tax bill is financing the president’s no-tax-on-tips policy, overtime, Social Security relief, and the big refunds people will start seeing,” he explained.
The Treasury Secretary also hinted about another program included in the same law —“Trump accounts.” Under this plan, the US government will automatically open an account for every child under 18 between 2025 and 2028, and deposit a one-time payment of $1,000 into each of those accounts.
Can Congress approve it?
While Trump’s idea of sending $2,000 checks sounds quite a generous amount to be given, Congress would have to approve such large payments. Several Republicans have already raised concerns about the cost. “It’ll never pass,” said Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio earlier this year. “We have a $37 trillion debt.”
On the other hand, the Trump administration’s IEEPA tariffs have brought in around $90 billion since they began, according to US Customs and Border Protection data. But distributing $2,000 to Americans, even only to those earning under $100,000, could cost roughly $300 billion, according to Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation.
IEEPA tariffs, meanwhile, are under the Supreme Court lens. If the court rules against Trump, it could mean he’ll have to refund importers who paid those duties. This will complicate any plans for a tariff-funded rebate.
The proposal comes at a time when a large number of American voters are struggling with high living costs. Inflation and affordability have been a major discussion, especially after Democrats’ strong performance in recent local elections.
“We inherited this affordability mess,” Bessent said. “It was the worst inflation in 40 or 50 years. The inflation line is now levelling off and starting to come down. Meanwhile, the income line, real wages, will go up.” This isn’t the first time Trump has talked about rebate checks. Back in August, he had hinted that Americans could get a share of the money collected through tariffs. “We’re taking in so much money that we may very well make a dividend to the people of America,” he said then.
Who Would Qualify — And Is There Even Enough Money?
According to the US Treasury, the Trump administration has so far collected over $220 billion in tariff revenue. But here’s the math: The IRS says more than 163 million Americans filed tax returns in 2024. If every adult got $2,000, that would total around $326 billion, more than all the tariff revenue collected so far.
Trump said he would exclude “high-income” earners, but he hasn’t specified what income limit he has in mind. Even if the cutoff is set at $100,000 per year, around 150 million Americans would still qualify. But, Trump insists the plan would still leave extra money to help pay down America’s huge national debt, now close to $40 trillion.
“All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens … will be used to substantially pay down national debt,” Trump posted on Monday morning.