Bessent says Trump’s $2,000 ‘dividend’ may come via tax cuts

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Americans may receive a tariff “dividend” of at least $2,000 could come via the tax cuts passed in his signature economic policy bill earlier this year.

Bessent was asked on ABC’s This Week about a social media post by Trump earlier Sunday that derided people who oppose tariffs and said a “dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.”

Bessent said he hadn’t spoken to the president about this idea but “the $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.”

Trump has been stepping up his defense of his tariffs regime since the Supreme Court on November, 5 heard arguments for a suit to get them thrown out. Several justices seemed skeptical, raising the possibility many of the levies could be overturned, forcing more than $100 billion in refunds and taking away a centerpiece of his second term.