US President Donald Trump boasts that his tariffs protect American industries, lure factories to the United States, raise money for the federal government and give him diplomatic leverage.
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Now, he is claiming they can finance a windfall for American families, too – he’s promising a generous tariff dividend.
The president proposed the idea on social media on Sunday, five days after his Republican Party lost elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere largely because of voter discontent with his economic stewardship – specifically, the high cost of living.
The tariffs are bringing in so much money, the president posted, that “a dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone’.’
Budget experts scoffed at the idea, which conjured memories of the Trump administration’s short-lived plan for Doge dividend cheques financed by billionaire Elon Musk’s federal budget cuts.
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“The numbers just don’t check out,″ said Erica York, vice-president of federal tax policy at the non-partisan Tax Foundation.