Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $2,000 “dividend” payments from tariffs to US citizens would require congressional approval.
“We will see,” Bessent said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. “We need legislation for that.”
Trump, who has touted the billions raised in US tariff revenue this year, has talked about the checks as public frustration mounts over the cost of living. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Friday, Trump said the checks would go out sometime next year to “everybody but the rich.”
“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “But we’ve taken in a lot of money from tariffs. The tariffs allow us to give a dividend.” He added that “we’re also going to be reducing debt.”
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The plan could cost the US government double what it’s projected to take in for 2025, according to one estimate. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a centrist watchdog group, estimated a preliminary $600 billion cost for the proposal, if the dividends were designed along the lines of government stimulus payments during the Covid pandemic.
Net US tariff revenue for the fiscal year through September totaled $195 billion and many economists have penciled in about $300 billion for calendar-year 2025.
Bessent said Americans should start feeling more economic relief in the beginning of next year, citing the tax cuts in Trump’s signature policy bill passed earlier this year.
“So I would expect in the first two quarters we are going to see the inflation curve bend down and the real income curve substantially accelerate,” he said.