Trump has shocking response when asked for an update on his promise to send Americans $2,000 tariff checks

Donald Trump issued a surprising response when he was asked for an update regarding his promise to send Americans $2,000 in dividends as a result of his administration's controversial tariffs.

Taking to Truth Social last year to explain the policy, Trump said: "People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS! We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price. 401k’s are Highest EVER.

"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 going up all over the place. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone."

The government has said that the series of 'refunds' will be issued to households across the country, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explaining exactly how it will work.

It comes after many tariffs introduced by the Trump administration (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Speaking last month, Bessent said: “I think we’re going to see $100 [billion] to $150 billion of refunds, which could be between $1,000, $2,000 per household."

The politician went on to clarify that checks for the refunds are expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2026.

Trump was asked about these payments during an Oval Office interview with the New York Times last week, with Katie Rogers asking: "You’ve promised $2,000 checks to Americans based off of your tariff revenues. When can they expect those?"

The president initially seemed stumped that he promised such, asking when he made such a commitment.

“I did do that? When did I do that?," he said.

Before the journalist tried to explain, Trump quickly interjected with: "Yeah, I’m thinking. Well, I did $1,776 for the military."

Trump seemed to question he'd promised such 'refunds' (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The POTUS was then asked when Americans should expect to receive their 'check', to which Trump responded: "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."

There's also the worry for the president that Congressional approval would be required for the payments to come through, though Trump doesn't believe that will be a problem.

"No, I don’t believe we do. We have it coming in from other sources," Trump said.

Trump said back in November in the Oval Office during an event about the FIFA World Cup heading to the US in June that the payments would come through prior to the soccer getting underway.

"We’re gonna be issuing dividends later on, somewhere prior to - the middle of next year, a little bit later than that," the 79-year-old said.