Donald Trump, it seems, doesn’t only make earth-shattering, belief-defying promises to his followers while on the campaign trail.
The POTUS is almost a year into his second stint in the White House, and the excitement and controversy show no signs of stopping. On the contrary, in many ways Trump is free of the shackles that to some degree restrained him during his first four years as president. This time around he’s louder, more brash, and hell bent on doing things his way.
And yet though he may be flirting with diplomatic disaster on the international stage (see the farce that is his attempt at negotiating a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine), may seem unable to resist attacking any news reporter who dares to offer him a question that looks anything like a softball, and may be looking more and more like the outline of an Orwellian despot, he is actually doing things the vast majority of American citizens can’t help but approve of.
Or at least he’s promising to.
Trump recently told the world that he was preparing to hand out $2,000 to almost all Americans in the form of a dividend funded by the revenue made by his tariffs.
During a Cabinet meeting on December 2, Trump claimed that the US has been collecting “trillions of dollars” from tariffs, and that a portion of this revenue would be returned to citizens in the form of dividend refund checks, potentially as soon as 2026, according to FOX News.
“We’ve taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money. We’re going to be issuing dividends later on… of thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income,” he said.
Trump also hinted at lowering income taxes using tariffs, saying:
“Whether you get rid of it or just keep it around for fun or have it really low, much lower than it is now, but you will not be paying income taxes.”
The 79-year-old emphasized that the plan was to use tariff money to reduce the growing US national debt, said to stand at an eye-watering $37 trillion. The remainder, it’s said, will be distributed as dividends.
Now, just when households would be receiving the aforementioned $2,000 check is a matter yet to be clarified. Trump himself confirmed last Friday that the checks will not be distributed before the end of 2025.
“No, no. Not for this year. It’ll be next year sometime,” he said.
Economists have raised questions about the feasibility of such a large-scale financial plan.
Erica York, a policy expert at the Tax Foundation, wrote on X: “If the cutoff is $100,000, 150 million adults would qualify, for a cost near $300 billion. Only problem, new tariffs have raised $120 billion so far.”
Americans would be forgiven for taking an optimistic approach and believing their president’s promise, but it would probably behoove readers not to spend any money before it’s actually landed in their account. After all, there’s been no official confirmation from either Congress or the IRS, and this wouldn’t be the first time too-good-to-be-true financial dividends have been touted by Trump.
Back in February 2025, the president suggested a $5,000 “DOGE dividend” linked to efficiency savings identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. At the time of writing, no one (to our knowledge) has received such a check.
In July 2025, meanwhile, Trump proposed tariff rebate checks, later introduced as the American Worker Rebate Act by Sen. Josh Hawley. Potential payments ranged from $600 to $2,400 per family, though the bill has yet to pass Congress.
Do you think Trump and his administration will hand out $2,000 to the majority of American households next year? Let us know in the comments.
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