White House: No Decision Yet on Tariff Rebate Checks

Trump is floating the idea of distributing part of the hundreds of billions of dollars the Treasury has collected since April.

President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, on April 2, 2025. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

No decision has been made on President Donald Trump’s proposal to send Americans rebate checks funded by revenues collected from tariffs, the White House said Monday.

Trump is floating the idea of distributing part of the hundreds of billions of dollars the Treasury has collected since April, when he imposed global tariffs aimed at restoring fair trade relations between the United States and the rest of the world. The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear arguments on whether the president can use his emergency powers to issue these customs duties in the first place.

Asked whether the rebate plan depends on the high court’s ruling or whether the administration is preparing legislation to authorize the payments, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that the proposal is still being discussed.

“It’s an idea that the president has discussed and floated with his team of advisers, but no decision has been firmly made at this point in time,” she told reporters at a regular press briefing.

Trump first raised the possibility in July, noting that the Treasury had taken in $64 billion in tariff revenue during the first three months since his global tariff announcement on April 2. At that time, he did not give specifics on the size of the checks or who might be eligible for the payments, saying only that rebates might go to “people of a certain income level.”

More recently, in an Oct. 2 interview with One America News, Trump said he is still considering something that could be “almost like a dividend to the people of America.”

The president emphasized that his priority is using tariff revenue to reduce the national debt, which currently stands at $37 trillion.

“No. 1, we’re paying down debt, because people have allowed the debt to go crazy,” Trump told One America News. “But with growth, the growth we have now, the debt is very little, relatively speaking. You grow yourself out of that debt.”

“With that being said, we'll pay back debt, but we also might make a distribution to the people,” Trump added, saying during the same interview, “We’re thinking maybe $1,000 to $2,000—it would be great.”

As of September, tariff collections since the start of 2025 had topped $200 billion, according to Treasury data. August alone brought in a record-high $31.3 billion. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said he expects tariff revenue to reach at least $300 billion by year’s end, with the president saying he expects tariff revenue to reach $1 trillion a year eventually.

The administration’s authority to levy those tariffs, however, faces legal challenge.

In August, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Trump’s global tariffs—along with punitive duties imposed in February on China, Canada, and Mexico to pressure them to curb fentanyl trafficking—were unlawful. The decision largely upheld two lower court rulings that found the president’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act exceeded his executive authority.

The appeals court allowed the tariffs to remain in place while the administration appeals to the nation’s highest court. The Supreme Court justices are set to hear oral arguments on Nov. 5.

Bessent has warned that if the Court strikes down the tariffs, the government could be on the hook to refund between $750 billion and $1 trillion in collected and projected revenue.