Trump’s trade war spending for Americans.
Donald Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social: “Everybody, except the very wealthy, will be paid at least $2,000 in benefits.”
The US president also called those who oppose trade tariffs “stupid.”
According to the report, although the proposal would likely have to pass Congress, it is similar to legislation introduced this summer by Republican Senator Josh Hawley, which would have paid back a portion of the tariff revenue in the amount of $600 to nearly every American and their dependent children.
Hawley said: “My law allows hard-working Americans to benefit from the wealth that Trump’s tariffs bring back to this country.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant told CNBC in August that the administration’s priority is to use the tariff revenue to pay down the $38.12 trillion national debt.
Trump also said yesterday that the government would use the revenue from the tariffs to pay down the country’s “huge” debt.
“We are now the richest and most respected country in the world, we have almost no inflation, and the stock market is at an all-time high,” Trump said, adding that “we will soon begin paying down our massive $37 trillion debt.”
The Treasury Department earned $195 billion in tariffs in the first nine months of this year, according to a statement released in September.
Trump’s announcement came as the U.S. Supreme Court had questioned the legality of the president’s use of his authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country in the world. Trump has consistently criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s stance on his tariffs.
Earlier this year, the president announced tariffs on trading partners including China, Canada, Mexic,o and the European Union.