The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) condemned President Trump’s proposal to provide $2,000 tariff rebate checks to most Americans, calling it a “Hail Mary pass.”
“President Trump has a big tariff problem: His border taxes are driving up prices on tariffed goods, he’s unpopular among voters, and the Supreme Court could rule that his “emergency” tariffs are illegal,” WSJ Board. Said sunday.
Trump, Sunday Truth Social Post, Said Every American – except “high income” individuals – would receive a $2,000 dividend from revenues collected by the federal government from tariffs imposed on foreign trade partners.
As of September, the Treasury Department has Collected $195 billion from tariffs this year, an increase of 250 percent or $118 billion from fiscal year 2024.
The President also said his administration would use the tariffs to pay down the $38.12 trillion national debt. However, the WSJ editorial board called the dueling policy proposals a “contradiction”, noting that sending rebate checks to most Americans would increase the national debt.
The White House or the Treasury Department have not Specified Which income groups would be eligible for dividends, or how much they would cost the country.
Since the president imposed sweeping tariffs in April, companies have passed most of the costs on to consumers. Goldman Sachs analysis in October found American consumers will bear 55 percent of the cost of the tariffs this year.
The WSJ editorial board cited the economic and political costs of the tariffs, saying Trump was “trying to ease the public’s tariff pain with a direct payment he can take credit for.”
“This is a new version of the age-old income redistribution game of taxing people too much and then appeasing them with tax credits or lump-sum cash payments,” the board said. “Democrats do this all the time by providing child tax credits and other aid to special-interest groups.”
trump administration defended The tariffs went before the Supreme Court last week, arguing that the President has the authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.
