Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said President Donald Trump’s proposal to send $2,000 “dividends” from tariffs to US citizens would require congressional approval.
“We’ll see,” Besant told Fox News. Futures on Sunday morning. “We need legislation for that.”
Trump, who has touted the billions raised in US tariff revenue this year, spoke of the checks as public frustration over the cost of living mounts. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump said the checks would go out sometime next year “to everyone except the richest.”
“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “But we get a lot of money from tariffs. Tariffs allow us to distribute profits.” “We will also reduce debt,” he added.
Read more: Trump’s $2,000 Tariff ‘Profits’ Represent a Bounce on Covid Checks
The plan could cost the US government twice what it expects to pay for 2025, according to one estimate. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a centrist watchdog group, estimated an initial cost of the proposal at $600 billion, if earnings were modeled after the government’s stimulus payments during the Covid pandemic.
Net U.S. tariff revenues for the fiscal year through September were $195 billion Many economists have expected about $300 billion to be allocated for the 2025 calendar year.
Pisant said Americans should start to feel more economic relief at the beginning of next year, citing the tax cuts in Trump’s signature policy bill passed earlier this year.
“So I expect that in the first two quarters we will see the inflation curve bend down and the real income curve accelerate significantly,” he said.
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