The biggest roadblock: Congress and math

Even if the public is excited, the $2,000 idea faces a mountain of financial and political challenges. The IRS has not officially approved any $2,000 stimulus checks for distribution to Americans in 2025.

And treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently cast doubt on whether the plan could actually happen, telling Fox Business:

“We will see,” while also stressing that “we need legislation for that.”

Translation: Congress would have to sign off on a spending plan that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin isn’t buying into the president’s payout proposal, arguing that any tariff dollars should go toward shrinking the nation’s $1.8 trillion deficit instead.

“Look, we can’t afford it. I wish we were in a position to return the American public their money, but we’re not,” he told Fox Business.

Johnson went on to criticize the soaring federal shortfall: “President Trump had deficits about $800 billion — Obama, in his last four years, $550 billion a year. Now we’re $2 trillion? Completely unacceptable. We have to start focusing on that and doing something about it.”

”Could come in lots of forms”

So, just how massive would the bill be? The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the price tag could reach $600 billion per year, far more than the government currently collects from tariffs.

Even narrowing eligibility doesn’t make the math pretty. Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, said that even limiting payments to households under $100,000 would still cost about $300 billion.

Bessent also hinted that the payout might not look like a traditional check at all.

“Could come in lots of forms,” he said, suggesting possibilities like tax credits or benefits tied to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

So far, tariffs have generated roughly $195.9 billion total, nowhere close to what would be needed to fund nationwide dividend checks.

But Trump doesn’t seem deterred. Speaking aboard Air Force One, he doubled down: “It will be next year… The tariffs allow us to give a dividend. We’re going to do a dividend, and we’re also going to be reducing debt.”

Stimulus checks — direct payments sent by the federal government to Americans during times of economic hardship — were last distributed in 2021, with millions receiving up to $1,400 under the American Rescue Plan.

For now, Americans will just have to wait and see whether these “tariff dividends” become real money — or stay in the political-promise category.