On November 9, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that every American will receive a $2,000 dividend resulting from tariff gains. (Photo credit: John McDonnell / For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
This article was updated on Friday, Nov. 14.
It Remains Unclear How Or When Dividends Will Be Issued
The notion of the American public receiving dividends from policies enacted by President Donald Trump in his second term is not a foreign one, but it remains unclear how and when it could happen.
At the beginning of his second term, as the new Department Of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE, was the talk of the town, there were murmurs of a possible dividend being delivered to the American people.
Since Elon Musk’s status as a special government employee expired on May 30, talk of DOGE’s work has largely faded, even as the department continues to cut what it determines to be wasteful spending from the national budget.
All in all, DOGE reports it has saved an estimated $214 billion as of November 10, with each American taxpayer saving an estimated $1,329.19.
Now, talk of a dividend has been renewed, this time with Trump saying it could be the result of funds brought in by his international tariff policy.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, November 9, Trump shared that a dividend of at least $2,000 per person “will be paid to everyone,” with high-income earners excluded.
See Trump’s full post, here:
On November 10, Trump shared an additional post on Truth Social about the dividends, saying:
“All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.”
How Americans Could Receive A $2,000 Dividend
In Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the $2,000 dividends to be “paid to everyone,” there was no timeline for when Americans could expect such a payment.
Similarly, while he said the nation is taking in trillions of dollars, which could soon go toward paying off the national debt, which is presently over $37 trillion, it is not clear yet how costly such a dividend could be in the long run.
Speaking a matter of hours after Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the prospect of $2,000 dividends, Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent told George Stephanopoulos on the November 9 broadcast of This Week on ABC that the dividend payments “could come in lots of forms.”
Prefacing that he hadn’t spoken to Trump about tariff dividends, Bessent stated, “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 measures were passed by Congress through the One, Big, Beautiful Bill on July 4.
Trump’s post on November 10 seems to illustrate that his intent is to, indeed, pay Americans $2,000.
Regardless, see Bessent’s full comments, here:
The Trump administration’s implementation of tariffs has been highly controversial, with the Supreme Court presently considering a case as to whether they have been rightfully used.
While the disbursement of a dividend to the American people would likely have to be passed by Congress, it is not clear how tariff revenue could cover the cost of a $2,000 payment.
Using the DOGE figure that accounts for there being 161 million taxpaying adults in the United States, paying each of them $2,000 would amount to approximately $322 billion.
This does not take into account how many American households earn over $150,000, which was the cap for couples receiving stimulus checks during COVID-19.
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as of September 30, tariffs (listed as “customs duties”) have brought in approximately $195 billion.
Meanwhile, Trump posted on Truth Social on November 11, writing that if the Supreme Court rules against his tariff policy that the return of funds to other nations would be “in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars.”
Still, he noted in a separate Truth Social post on November 12 that the government shutdown, which he blamed on Democrats in the Senate, cost $1.5 trillion.
About an hour after his initial post about tariff dividends on November 9, Trump posted on Truth Social a defense of his authority to impose tariffs, writing:
These statements on Truth Social regarding tariffs and potential dividends came days after Democrat victories in the 2025 election, and amid the longest shutdown in American history.
The shutdown ended after 43 days of division, on November 12.
RELATED: Trump Signs Bill Reopening The Government, Ending Longest Shutdown In American History
COVID Stimulus Checks
During Trump’s first term as president, he signed into law two pieces of Congressionally-approved legislation which saw Americans receive stimulus checks.
The CARES Act, or Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and economic Security Act, saw many Americans receive $1,200 stimulus checks in 2020.
This provision cost approximately $300 billion.
Later that year, Trump also signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which issued $600 stimulus checks to many Americans through the fiscal year ending in 2021.
This provision cost a total of $166 billion.
