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President Donald Trump said Monday that Americans could see payment checks funded by tariff revenues as soon as next year, promising that “hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money” would be distributed as dividends by mid-2026.
“We’ve taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money. We’re going to be issuing dividends probably by the middle of next year, maybe a little bit later than that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The president first floated the idea last week, saying he would use tariff revenue to send $2,000 payments to low- and middle-income Americans, with any remaining funds directed toward paying down the nation’s soaring debt.
TRUMP CALLS TARIFF OPPONENTS ‘FOOLS,’ PROMISES $2K DIVIDEND PAYMENTS FOR AMERICANS
With the nation’s debt hovering just north of $38 trillion, revenue from tariffs amount to little more than a rounding error: billions collected against trillions owed.
The proposal comes at a pivotal moment, with tariff receipts climbing and the Supreme Court reviewing the legality of Trump’s trade measures.
Since Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs in April, tariff revenues have climbed sharply from $23.9 billion in May to $28 billion in June and $29 billion in July.
Total duty revenue reached $215.2 billion in fiscal year 2025, which ended Sept. 30, according to the Treasury Department’s Customs and Certain Excise Taxes report.
TRUMP DEFENDS TARIFFS, SAYS US HAS BEEN ‘THE KING OF BEING SCREWED’ BY TRADE IMBALANCE
So far in fiscal year 2026, which began on Oct. 1, the U.S. has collected $37.5 billion, according to the latest numbers published by the Treasury Department.
And while tariff collections have soared under Trump, they remain a modest contributor to federal coffers.
By contrast, individual income taxes generated more than $2.6 trillion in fiscal 2025, compared with $195 billion from tariffs and $452 billion from corporate income taxes, Treasury figures show.
The nation’s highest court is still in the process of deciding the fate of Trump’s trade agenda and the tariffs in question.
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