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Key Takeaways
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday that President Donald Trump’s proposal for a $2,000 tariff rebate would go to “people who need the money.”
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested earlier this month that the proposed tariff “dividend” could be paid to families making $100,000 or less a year.
The Trump administration is continuing to push for tariff rebate checks, but it’s still unclear exactly who will receive the $2,000 payments.
Although the check proposal is not yet finalized and would likely require congressional approval, the administration is still pushing for the payments. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Monday in a televised interview that the checks would likely only be distributed to low- and middle-income earners.
“[President Donald Trump is] going to constrain it to people who need the money,” Lutnick said. “What he’s trying to do is to make sure people in America understand that tariffs are their policy. It’s to make America stronger.”
Lutnick’s comments reiterate the idea that Trump’s tariff rebate plan would have an income limit, though officials haven’t offered more details about who could qualify for the proposed tariff “dividend.”
Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a televised interview that the administration is considering a stimulus check of $2,000 for families making $100,000 a year or less. Those income levels would be similar to the qualifications for COVID stimulus checks, said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation.
Why This Matters to You
A $2,000 stimulus check could provide financial relief to more than 123 million Americans. But the U.S. national debt is near $38 trillion, and issuing stimulus payments without offsetting the cost could further increase that debt.
“There are a lot of options here,” Bessent said in the interview. “The president is talking about a $2,000 rebate and that would be for families making less than, say, $100,000.”
The idea originated earlier this month, when Trump posted on Truth Social that a “dividend of at least $2000 a person” would be paid to “everyone.” However, his post noted that “high-income” earners would not receive the payment. The payments would be funded through tariff revenues, Trump wrote.
Whether the federal government’s budget supports issuing stimulus checks to Americans has been questioned by some economists. York wrote that new tariffs are expected to raise nearly $217 billion in revenue in 2026. However, tax data for 2022 show that if the 123 million families making less than $100,000 each got the proposed stimulus, that would cost nearly $300 billion.
