'People against tariffs are fools': Trump vows $2,000 payout for Americans

US President Donald Trump defended his tariff policy, saying that every American, except the wealthy, will get a dividend of $2,000 from tariff revenues

US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) reaffirmed his support for high tariffs, claiming that revenues from his trade policies would soon be distributed to Americans in the form of a $2,000 payment. The payout, he said, would exclude high-income earners.

 

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!” He said that his administration had transformed the United States into “the richest, most respected country in the world, with almost no inflation, and a record stock market price. 401k’s are highest ever (sic)."

 

Trump also said the country was “taking in trillions of dollars” from tariffs, which he claimed would help pay down the “enormous $37 trillion debt". He added that factories and manufacturing plants were “going up all over the place", and that Americans would soon receive a “dividend of at least $2,000 a person (not including high-income people!)".   

 

 

Trump's tariff policy under legal scrutiny

 

Trump’s renewed defense of his tariff agenda comes as the US Supreme Court reviews the legality of the sweeping tariffs imposed during his presidency. The hearings, which began on November 6, are being described as one of the most consequential economic cases to reach the court in recent years.

 

CNN reported that the Justices, including Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, expressed skepticism over whether Trump had acted lawfully in applying “reciprocal” tariffs across numerous trading partners.

 

Justice Barrett questioned the administration’s reliance on federal law to impose broad trade restrictions, asking why the tariffs were applied universally rather than selectively.

 

Administration defends legal position

 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, present during the hearings, said the administration viewed the matter as an “economic emergency". Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the administration remained confident about its legal footing.

 

“We are 100 per cent in with the President and his team’s legal arguments and the merits of the law in this case,” Leavitt said, adding that the issue extended beyond Trump’s presidency and could affect how future administrations use emergency tariff powers.

 

Unclear details on the proposed payout

 

Despite Trump’s promise of a “tariff dividend”, officials have not provided details on how or when such payments would be made.

 

Speaking on ABC News’ This Week, Treasury Secretary Bessent said he had not discussed the idea directly with the president.

 

He said that the benefit might instead come through tax cuts included in Trump’s economic agenda. “The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways,” Bessent said. “It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda — no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. Deductibility of auto loans. Those are substantial deductions being financed in the tax bill.”

 

These measures were included in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill", a large spending and tax package signed into law in July.

 

(With agency inputs)