WASHINGTON (Gray News) – President Donald Trump is still promising at least a $2,000 dividend to many Americans using money raised from tariffs.

On Monday, Trump told reporters at the White House that he plans to issue the rebate checks at some point in mid-to-late 2026.

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“We’ve taken in hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff money. We’re going to be issuing dividends later on, somewhere prior to, no, probably the middle of next year, a little bit later than that, of thousands of dollars for individuals of moderate income, middle income,” Trump told reporters.

He continued, “We’re going to pay down debt. You know, we have a lot of money from tariffs. If we didn’t have tariffs, this nation would be in serious trouble.”

The president first proposed the idea on his Truth Social media platform earlier this month, writing, “dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”

Details are scarce, including what the income limits would be and whether payments would go to children.

According to the Associated Press, budget experts are skeptical of the idea.

“The numbers just don’t check out,” said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

John Ricco, an analyst with the Budget Lab at Yale University, calculated that Trump’s tariffs will bring in $200 billion to $300 billion a year in revenue. But a $2,000 dividend — if it went to all Americans, including children — would cost $600 billion. “It’s clear that the revenue coming in would not be adequate,” he said.

Ricco also noted that Trump couldn’t just pay the dividends on his own. They would require legislation from Congress.

Even Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, sounded a bit blindsided by the dividend plan.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Bessent said he hadn’t discussed the dividend with the president and suggested that it might not mean that Americans would get a check from the government. Instead, Bessent said, the rebate might take the form of tax cuts.

Copyright 2025 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.