Trump Asks ‘When Did I Do That’ When Asked About His Promise to Send Americans $2K Tariff Checks

President Donald Trump appeared to briefly draw a blank when questioned about a past comment related to tariffs and rebate checks.

In an interview in the Oval Office last week with The New York Times, White House correspondents Katie Rogers and Tyler Pager asked Trump about tariffs and his earlier remarks suggesting Americans could receive rebate payments funded by tariff revenue.

“You’ve promised $2,000 checks to Americans based off of your tariff revenues. When can they expect those?” Rogers asked in the interview, which was published Sunday, Jan. 11.

Trump initially pushed back, asking, “I did do that? When did I do that?”

Rogers began to respond, but Trump interjected: “Yeah, I’m thinking. Well, I did $1,776 for the military.”

On Dec. 18, Trump and the Department of Defense announced that nearly 1.5 million service members would receive a “Warrior Dividend” of $1,776, with the administration crediting the funds to the Big Beautiful Bill.

Pager then asked when Americans would receive the $2,000 checks.

“Well, I am going to,” Trump replied. “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.”

When asked whether he would need congressional approval, Trump, 79, said, “No, I don’t believe we do. We have it coming in from other sources.”

Trump first raised the idea of $2,000 rebate checks in early November in a post on Truth Social, writing, “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!”

He said the U.S. was taking in “Trillions of Dollars,” and described a tariff “dividend” for Americans. “A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high-income people!) will be paid to everyone,” he wrote in a Nov. 9 Truth Social post.

On Nov. 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.

But on Nov. 12, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC News that he and the president had not discussed the possibility of a tariff rebate for the public.

He also cautioned that consumers should consider saving any rebate to help avoid fueling inflation. “Maybe we could persuade Americans to save that,” Bessent said in a Nov. 18 Fox News interview, Axios reported.

In a Nov. 24 Truth Social post, Trump said tariff “amounts payable to the USA will SKYROCKET, over and above the already historic levels of dollars received,” adding that Americans had not yet felt “the full benefit of the Tariffs.”

He concluded by saying he was “looking forward” to the Supreme Court’s decision on whether the tariffs are illegal under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Passed by Congress in 1977, the IEEPA “provides the President broad authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions following a declaration of national emergency.”

If the Supreme Court rules the tariffs are illegal, the administration would have to refund tariff revenue to companies entitled to the funds. A decision could be announced as soon as Wednesday, Jan. 14, the BBC reports.

Bessent told Reuters on Jan. 9 that if the ruling finds the tariffs illegal, the Treasury Department would be able to refund nearly $774 billion in tax refunds, though he said the return of funds could be spread out over weeks or even up to a year.