Trump Says He’s Still Looking ‘Seriously’ at Sending $2,000 Tariff Rebate Payments

President Donald Trump said in a recent interview he is still “looking at it very seriously” — sending Americans $2,000 payments funded by tariff revenue.

When asked who would receive the money and when, Trump replied he hasn’t made a commitment yet but may do so, adding his administration is collecting “hundreds of billions” from tariffs. Officials have suggested the payments would likely target non-wealthy households.

Some White House advisers and lawmakers say Congress may need to approve the plan, while others argue the president could issue it directly. A separate proposal in Congress previously suggested smaller rebate amounts for workers.

The idea comes as the Supreme Court continues reviewing the legality of the tariffs themselves, leaving the timeline uncertain.

The president was also asked about the tariffs and his statement about sending rebate checks to Americans in a January interview with The New York Times’ White House correspondents Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager.

“You’ve promised $2,000 checks to Americans based off of your tariff revenues. When can they expect those?” Rogers asked in the interview, published on Jan. 11.

The president initially similarly questioned her, asking, “I did do that? When did I do that?”

Rogers replied, “Well, I mean, your —,” but Trump seemingly interjected to say, “Yeah, I’m thinking. Well, I did $1,776 for the military.”

Pager followed up by asking for the timeline. “When will those Americans get those checks?”

“Well, I am going to,” Trump replied. “The tariff money is so substantial. That’s coming in, that I’ll be able to do $2,000 sometime. I would say toward the end of the year.”

When asked if he would need Congressional approval, Trump replied, “No, I don’t believe we do. We have it coming in from other sources.”

The president promised the $2,000 tariff rebate checks in a Nov. 9 Truth Social post. “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 wrote at the time.