Trump says $2,000 tariff rebate checks won't come before Christmas

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(The Center Square) – Americans won't get a $2,000 rebate check from the federal government before Christmas.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the proposed checks will not be distributed before the end of the year. Trump made the comments aboard Air Force One on his way to Mar-a-Lago, the president's club in Palm Beach. It's his 14th trip to Palm Beach this year.

Trump has proposed sending $2,000 checks to most Americans, excluding high earners. Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said no decision had been made on income limits. On the same day, the White House said it was "exploring all of its options" for sending tariff rebate checks even as the Supreme Court considers a legal challenge to the president's tariffs. 

Congress would need to authorize rebate checks, similar to those distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump has addressed the issue of rebate checks multiple times this week.

"All money left over from the $2,000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT," Trump wrote in a social media post earlier this week.

While Trump provided no details, early estimates suggest that the checks would cost more than the tariffs generate.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reported that if the payments were like the COVID-19 stimulus, the $2,000 dividend would cost about $600 billion – about twice what tariffs are expected to generate.

A Congressional Budget Office report from August estimated tariffs could bring in $4 trillion over the next decade. That CBO report came with caveats and noted that tariffs will raise consumer prices and reduce the purchasing power of U.S. families.