Roving Periscope: Ahead of 2026 elections, Trump to dole out $ 2000 per voter!’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Rattled with Democratic Party’s candidate Zohran Mamdani’s surprise victory last week to become the new Mayor of New York, ahead of the 2026 elections to the House of Representatives, President Donald on Sunday announced ‘tariff dividend’ for US citizens except those with high-incomes, the media reported on Monday.
Each ‘beneficiary’ will get a dole of USD 2000.
Dubbing his opponents as “fools,” the President claimed every American — except the wealthy — will soon receive at least USD 2,000 from tariff revenues collected by his administration.
Addressing confusion around the proposed USD 2,000 (Rs 1,77,000)’ tariff dividend’ that the President announced in his recent social media post, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it can be distributed to all American citizens, except for high-income people, in various forms, including tax cuts and other fiscal measures.
Speaking to ABC News, Bessent said he had not discussed tariff dividends with Trump but listed out a few areas where the monetary benefits could likely come.
“The USD 2,000 dividend could come in lots of forms, in lots of ways. 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 on auto loans,” he said.
Trump on Sunday defended his tariff policy, claiming the aggressive levies made the US the “richest” and “most respected” country in the world.
Asked about Trump’s remarks, Bessent expanded the argument and said, “Over the course of the next few years, we could take in trillions of dollars.”
“But the real goal of tariffs is to rebalance trade and make it more fair.”
President Trump has been stepping up the defence of his tariff regime ever since the US Supreme Court last week raised doubts over the legality of the measure, raising the possibility that many of the levies could be overturned, forcing more than USD 100 billion in refunds and taking away a centrepiece of his second term.
Trump said that if the top US court ruled against him, it would be a “disaster.”
Part of the case involves the Trump administration’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs, which impose taxes of between 10 percent and 50 percent on most US imports depending on the originating country. According to Trump, those duties are warranted to address the longstanding national trade deficit.
On Sunday, he doubled down on his aggressive tariff policy, promising that every American — except the wealthy — will soon receive at least USD 2,000 from tariff revenues collected by his administration.
In a post on his Truth Social account, he lashed out at critics of his trade policy. “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!” he wrote, boasting that his administration had turned the United States into “the richest, most respected country in the world, with almost no inflation, and a record stock market price.”
Trump claimed the US is taking in trillions of dollars from tariffs, with the money set to be used to reduce the USD 37 trillion national debt.
He also touted what he called record-breaking economic achievements. “401k’s are highest EVER,” he wrote, adding that “plants and factories (are) going up all over the place.”
However, Trump did not provide details on how the proposed tariff dividend would be distributed or when it would take effect.
Bessent told CNBC in August that the administration’s focus was on paying down the USD 38.12 trillion national debt using the tariff revenue.
The President’s post also comes as the Supreme Court reviews challenges questioning whether he exceeded his executive powers by imposing sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly every major trading partner.
Trump has repeatedly dismissed the legal scrutiny, arguing that tariffs are his strongest economic weapon. “We are taking in trillions of dollars,” he wrote, insisting the policy has made America stronger, wealthier, and more independent.
