The ears of millions of Americans perked up when US President Donald Trump announced plans to issue a dividend of around $2,000 to every US citizen as a result of the money generated by tariffs, but those payments have now received a worrying update after a bizarre statement from the head of state.
Despite significant financial hardship caused by Donald Trump's wild tariffs – prompting the price of almost every imported item across the United States to increase – the president revealed an unexpected plan to win back the hearts of disgruntled voters.
You can't say no to free money after all, and that ace up his sleeve was revealed in the form of a tariff dividend totalling up to $2,000 that will be handed out to almost every citizen across the nation.
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Revealing the plans in a Truth Social post, President Trump detailed: "We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place.
"A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone," he asserted.
It didn't take long for that message to receive an asterisk though, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent illustrated that they will serve more as 'refunds' instead of direct payments, and that they "could be between $1,000, $2,000 per household."
He did assert that these were expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2026 though, making the start of April the likely deadline, albeit it's still unclear what form they will take.
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President Trump seemed to have other ideas according to a recent bizarre statement, however, casting further doubt on the prospect that this money will ever make its way into the hands of Americans, as per UNILAD.
Speaking to New York Times White House correspondent Katie Rogers, Trump was asked: "You've promised $2,000 checks to Americans based off of your tariff revenues. When can they expect those?"
He was seemingly mystified by this question, offering a shocked response that won't be great news for anyone continuing to hold out hope.
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"I did do that? When did I do that?," he asked, before adding: "Yeah, I'm thinking. Well, I did $1,776 for the military."
That was a separate payment completely unrelated to the tariff dividend though, suggesting that the prospect of the latter is increasingly unlikely.
Trump did clarify that he'll "be able to do $2,000 sometime," noting that it would be "toward the end of the year," but pushing back that responsibility despite 'substantial' tariff revenues indicates that it's a low priority for the current administration, and will perhaps be used to surge voting in the November midterms.