US President Donald Trump has made a major move and proposed using money earned from new tariffs on foreign imports. The aim is to give cash dividends to citizens from poor economic backgrounds.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said, “There could be a distribution or a dividend to the people of our country, I would say for people that would be middle income people and lower income people, we could do a dividend.”
What did Trump say?
The US President also defended his tariff policy, saying it is aimed at creating fairness in global trade and cutting the US’ massive national debt. He stated, “We’re going to pay down debt. We have a lot of money coming in—much more money than the country’s ever seen.”
Under the new measures, tariffs include rates as high as 50% on imports from countries with which the US has trade deficits, and a 10% baseline tariff on nearly all other imports. Hours before an August 1 negotiation deadline, Trump signed an order imposing tariffs on 69 countries. Brazil faces a 50% rate, Syria 41%, Switzerland 39%, Canada 35%, India 25%, and Taiwan 20%.
Trump cited a 1977 law to declare the trade imbalance a national emergency. He also said that the move was about fairness, and claimed the tariffs could bring in “hundreds of billions of dollars” for the US Treasury.
According to Treasury data, customs duties and certain excise taxes brought in $152 billion through July—almost double last year’s $78 billion for the same period.
Economists have warned that the higher costs may be passed on to consumers, raising prices and potentially slowing the economy.
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