As the country awaits a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of Donald Trump's global tariffs, the president said he's considering paying Americans a dividend with the revenue.
Trump told One America News on Thursday he's contemplating giving Americans up to $2,000 in rebates derived from the tariffs.
After saying the tariffs have generated enough money to cut the U.S. deficit in half, Trump was asked how the additional revenue would be used.
"With the kind of growth we have now, the debt is very low relatively speaking," Trump said. "You grow yourself out of that debt. The numbers we have now are bigger than they ever were. We also might make a distribution to the people.
"We're thinking almost $1,000 to $2,000."
Dividends to Americans were first floated in February, when businessman James Fishback suggested returning 20% of the savings identified by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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Trump later said he was considering Fishback's suggestion. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., distanced himself from the proposal.
Any disbursement from the federal government would require congressional approval.
As for the tariffs, the Supreme Court last month scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 5 in a case challenging the legality of Trump's sweeping global tariffs, a major test of one of the Republican president's boldest assertions of executive power and a pillar of his economic and trade agenda.
A lower court ruled that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a federal law meant for emergencies.
"They're just starting to kick in," Trump told One America News, "but ultimately, your tariffs are going to be over a trillion dollars a year."
On Wednesday, Trump said he plans to use tariff revenue from imports to aid U.S. soybean farmers hurt by the economic fallout from the U.S.-China trade fight.
"The Soybean Farmers of our Country are being hurt because China is, for 'negotiating' reasons only, not buying," Trump posted on Truth Social. "We've made so much money on Tariffs, that we are going to take a small portion of that money, and help our Farmers."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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