President Donald Trump said in a new interview that he believes the administration does not need congressional approval to send out tariff-derived payments to Americans, saying it could happen later in 2026.
Several White House officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and economic adviser Kevin Hassett, had said it would require an act of Congress.
“No, I don’t believe we do. We have it coming in from other sources,” Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times this past week, responding to a question on whether he needs Congress to pass a measure.
Later in the interview, he was asked about whether the tariff revenue could also be used to reduce the U.S. national debt.
“It’s going to all of those things,” Trump said, confirming that “we do” have enough funds from the import duties to cover rebate payments and debt reduction.
The president also appeared to downplay concerns that there wouldn’t be enough revenue from the tariffs when The New York Times journalist raised it.
“We also have growth. We also have tremendous growth in the country. We have tariff revenue, which is tremendous,” Trump said. “It’s given us tremendous national security.”
“It’s something that will require legislation, but if you look at how much tariff revenue has been coming in, then there would actually be enough room to cover those checks and not go into the rest of the budget,” Hassett stated at the time.
The White House was also “actively studying the matter and getting the numbers straight, so the president has all the choices he needs to decide what to do” on whether the administration is lobbying Congress to send the payments, he added.
Trump floated the idea of sending $2,000 payments derived from tariffs in an early November post on Truth Social as the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing arguments about lawsuits challenging his administration’s imposition of a broad range of import fees under an emergency provision of a 1977 law.
Lower courts had ruled against the tariffs, prompting the administration to appeal to the highest court. If the court rules against the tariffs, White House officials say, they have other authorities under which to impose duties on other countries.