Trump appears to forget his promise to send Americans $2K tariff checks: ‘When did I do that?’
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump seemed to briefly draw a blank when he was asked about his promise to send Americans $2,000 tariff checks.
During a New York Times interview last week, Journalists Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager asked the POTUS about the tariffs and his previous statement about sending rebate checks to Americans.
Trump questions 'I did do that?' when asked about his promise
Katie Rogers asked during the interview, which was published on Sunday, January 11, "You’ve promised $2,000 checks to Americans based off of your tariff revenues. When can they expect those?"
Trump initially questioned her, as he asked, "I did do that? When did I do that?" as Rogers replied, "Well, I mean, your ....." and was interjected by the POTUS who said, "Yeah, I’m thinking. Well, I did $1,776 for the military."
On December 18, 2025, Trump and the Department of War announced that around 1.5 million service members would receive a "Warrior Dividend" of $1,776, and credited the funds to the 'Big Beautiful Bill'.
Meanwhile, Tyler Pager followed up by asking for the timeline, "When will those Americans get those checks?" The President replied, "Well, I am going to. The tariff money is so substantial. That’s coming in, that I’ll be able to do $2,000 sometime. I would say toward the end of the year."
Trump was also asked if he would need Congressional approval, and the POTUS replied, "No, I don’t believe we do. We have it coming in from other sources."
Trump introduces idea of $2k rebate last November
The President had introduced the idea of the $2,000 rebate checks in early November 2025, when he posted to Truth Social, "People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!"
The POTUS said that the US is taking in "Trillions of Dollars", and will allow sending a tariff "dividend" to the American citizens. He wrote in a Truth Social post on November 9, 2025, "A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high-income people!) will be paid to everyone."
🚨 WOW! President Trump has confirmed a $2,000 DIVIDEND check to everyone except high-income people from tariff revenue
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 9, 2025
“We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories… pic.twitter.com/HsUKkEjTdL
Meanwhile, on November 10, the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the government would need around $600 billion to issue checks to Americans who would qualify.
However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC News on November 12 that he and the POTUS had not discussed the possibility of a tariff rebate for the American people.
Bessent also warned Americans to save the rebate money to avoid inflation. "Maybe we could persuade Americans to save that," he said in a November 18 Fox News interview, Axios reported.
In a November 24 Truth Social post, Trump said that the tariff "amounts payable to the USA will SKYROCKET, over and above the already historic levels of dollars received."
He added that Americans have not yet felt "the full benefit of the Tariffs." He concluded by saying that he was "looking forward" to the Supreme Court’s decision on whether the tariffs are illegal under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
