Trump’s Tariff Stimulus Checks: Who Makes the Cut in 2025?

Cash from tariffs? The controversial plan just got real.

Here’s the breakdown of who might pocket Trump’s proposed tariff windfall—and why Wall Street is already rolling its eyes.

Eligibility: The fine print they don’t want you to read.

Stimulus or political theater? Either way, someone’s getting paid.

Key Takeaways

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s proposal for a $2,000 tariff “dividend” could be paid to families making $100,000 or less a year.
• Bessent acknowledged in the interview that no decision had been made on the stimulus proposal.

New details are emerging over how a stimulus proposal from President Donald TRUMP could take shape.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Wednesday that Trump is considering a stimulus check of $2,000 for families making $100,000 a year or less. Those income levels WOULD be similar to the qualifications for COVID stimulus checks, said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation.

Why This Matters to You

A $2,000 stimulus check could provide financial relief to more than 123 million Americans. But the U.S. national debt is NEAR $38 trillion, and issuing stimulus payments without offsetting the cost could further increase that debt.

“There are a lot of options here,” Bessent said in the interview. “The president is talking about a $2,000 rebate and that would be for families making less than, say, $100,000.”

Bessent acknowledged in the interview that no decision has been made on the stimulus proposal. 

Bessent’s comments come after Trump posted on Truth Social this weekend that a "dividend of at least $2000 a person" would be paid to "everyone." However, his post noted that “high-income” earners would not receive the payment. The payments would be funded through tariff revenues, Trump wrote.

Wednesday's comments are slightly different than what the Treasury Secretary said earlier in the week. Bessent said that the “dividend” from tariffs may not be a direct check but could come in the FORM of tax relief in aninterview on Sunday.

Related Education

“The $2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways," he said on This Week on ABC. "It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president's agenda.”

Whether the federal government’s budget supports issuing stimulus checks to Americans has been questioned by some economists. York wrote that new tariffs are expected to raise nearly $217 billion in revenue in 2026. However, tax data for 2022 show that if the 123 million families making less than $100,000 each got the proposed stimulus, that would cost nearly $300 billion.