« The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways, » Bessent said.
President Donald Trump again suggested using tariff revenue to provide Americans with a “dividend,” though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it could come “in lots of forms.”
On Sunday, Trump posted on Truth Social that opponents of his tariffs are “fools,” adding that the government is taking in trillions of dollars that will go toward paying down U.S. debt.
“Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place,” he wrote. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”
Tariffs are expected to generate $300 billion-$400 billion annually. And over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated they could produce $3.3 trillion in revenue.
With such high hopes for a massive windfall, Trump has floated a tariff-related payment multiple times in the past. But his latest proposal came just days after his administration told the Supreme Court that tariffs are not meant to generate revenue.
On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Bessent said he’s not worried that Trump’s public statements are undercutting his arguments at the high court, which is considering a challenge to his global tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
