The year 2025 began with a change in leadership as the Trump Administration stepped into office after being elected for its second non-consecutive term. Amongst the numerous changes that had been implemented by the new administration, the massive and widespread tariff hikes were (and still are) a major talking point.
President Donald Trump’s decision to implement massive tariff hikes resulted in trade tensions earlier this year. Not to mention a rise in fears that the cost of goods would increase for the American people. Despite the concerns and criticisms regarding this decision, the president has repeatedly affirmed that these tariffs beneficial to the country and will prove to be extremely lucrative.
More recently, Trump has now promised to give each American a $2,000 check using the additional revenue generated by the hiked tariffs. Here is what you need to know.
Is a $2,000 stimulus check on the cards for American citizens?
In a post made on social media platform Truth Social on Sunday, November 9th, President Donald Trump wrote the following regarding the redistribution of the revenue generated by the tariffs: “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, 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.”
It is, however, said that Trump’s claims of trillions already being generated from the tariffs are something of an overstatement, with analysts stating that is will be “will be costly to American households.”
Additionally on November 9th, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who had spoken to ABC News, stated that he had not spoken with Trump regarding these dividends, but noted that it could potentially be given to the people in the form of a tax cut (that had already been promised).
”I haven’t spoken to the president about this yet, but, you know, it could—the $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms,” adding: “It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda. You know, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility of auto loans,” Bessent said to ABC News on November 9th.
Subsequently on Monday, the president then clarified that the $2,000 dividend would be issued to low income and middle income earners.
In a statement made to the media in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump stated the following: “We’re going to issue a dividend to our middle-income people and lower-income people, about $2,000. And we’re going to use the remaining tariffs to lower our debt.”
While the president noted that “high income people” will not be receiving the approximately $2,000 dividend, no clarification was shared regarding who is considered as high income. Trump further added that once the checks have been issued, the remaining revenue will be used as a means of reducing the national debt.
What are others saying?
Despite Trump’s Monday claim of “trillions of dollars” being generated by the tariffs, the government has only raised “$195 billion in tariff revenue through September.”
According to Erica York, the Tax Foundation’s vice president of federal tax policy, the current revenues brought in by the tariffs would not be sufficient to cover the dividends proposed by Trump. According to York, “Trump’s proposed $2,000 tariff dividend would cost nearly $300 billion, more than the tariffs have so far generated,” and this is after the exclusion of high income earners, which York categorizes as those earning above $100,000.
A prediction from The Tax Foundation also highlighted that the, “Trump-imposed tariffs will raise $2.4 trillion in revenue over the next decade. When factoring in negative economic effects due to foreign retaliation, this estimation drops to $1.8 trillion.”
At this time, the proposed $2,000 check for low and middle income earners has only been spoken about by the president himself. His administration is yet to share any confirmation or details regarding whether or not this proposal will come to fruition.