President Trump said that as part of his tariff policy, he would consider issuing rebate checks or tariff refund checks to American citizens, funded by the revenue generated from tariffs on imported goods.

"We have so much money coming in, we're considering giving a little rebate to people at certain income levels," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday. "It might be a great idea to give a little rebate to people at certain income levels."

President Donald Trump

This rebate will come from the huge tariff revenue collected by the U.S. government, according to Treasury Department data, exceeding $100 billion in the first half of 2025 alone.

Trump mentioned that these rebate checks may target "Americans at certain income levels," suggesting that the rebates could involve means testing, but he did not provide details on specific income thresholds or rebate amounts.

The proposed distribution of rebates is intended to compensate Americans who may face higher prices due to tariffs and potentially provide a small economic stimulus.

This adds new meaning to Trump's remarks about companies "bearing the cost of tariffs," a long-standing economic debate over who ultimately pays for tariffs.

This type of rebate policy would likely require Congressional approval. Senators such as Josh Hawley have expressed support for legislation to issue rebate checks to working-class Americans, but no bill text or timeline has been confirmed yet.

Once the law is enacted, the government would need to establish eligibility rules, application or automatic distribution methods, and payment processes. This could resemble previous economic stimulus check programs, but it remains theoretical at this stage.

This rebate concept differs from legitimate or administrative tariff refunds provided to importers. The latter are refunds considered or legally mandated after courts questioned the legality of some tariffs, and these refunds go to businesses that paid import taxes rather than directly to end consumers.

Is this legal?

For the tariff refund checks proposed by Trump, which are funded by tariff revenues and issued directly to American consumers, they would almost certainly require explicit Congressional legislation to be legally valid. Because the U.S. Constitution grants Congress (not the President) the power to levy tariffs and control federal funds.

The President can impose certain tariffs based on statutory authority, but courts have repeatedly ruled that the large-scale use of these powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) is illegal.

Recent court rulings, including a unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade, have halted Trump's broad tariff policies on the grounds of lacking IEEPA authority, but these tariffs remain in effect while awaiting appeals, and theoretically, a final decision from the Supreme Court is still pending.

Trump's busy July

The proposal for tariff rebate checks is another new policy suggestion made by Trump in July. During this month, Trump has continuously introduced new policy proposals, while Washington D.C. is being troubled by an escalating scandal involving the late, disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The Trump administration faces bipartisan criticism for its decision not to release the so-called "Epstein files" (the Justice Department claims these files do not exist).

The Wall Street Journal published a series of exclusive reports revealing Trump's close past relationship with Epstein, including Trump's name appearing in related documents.

In July, Trump claimed to have reached an agreement with Coca-Cola to reintroduce real sugar into the soda formula, and the company later confirmed this part of the statement.

He also demanded that the Washington Commanders football team restore its former name, the "Redskins," and threatened political obstruction on his stadium project if the team did not comply. He announced the public release of 230,000 documents related to Martin Luther King Jr.

Additionally, his disputes with the Federal Reserve and its Chair Jerome Powell have escalated. He was seen wearing a hard hat during a tour of ongoing office renovations and had a strange and dramatic argument with Powell on live television over cost overruns.

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