jakiro
Long Yue, Wall Street Insights
Trump defended his trade policies and floated the idea of returning money directly to Americans amid a U.S. Supreme Court review of the legality of the tariffs.
On Sunday, November 9, Trump posted on social media, claiming that his tariff policy would bring “at least a $2,000 dividend to everyone,” except for high-income people.He described tariffs as a key tool for a strong U.S. economy, a stock market hitting new highs and future repayments of the massive national debt, and called those who opposed the tariffs “fools.”
However, Finance Minister Bessant gave a more cautious interpretation of the proposal in an interview with the media.Bessant said he has not had specific discussions with the president about it and suggested the $2,000 “dividend” could come in “many forms and many ways.”The statement quickly cooled market expectations and shifted focus from direct cash stimulus to the government’s broader tax agenda.
The remarks come as the Trump administration’s tariff powers face a severe legal test.The U.S. Supreme Court has heard a debate on the legality of tariffs on November 5. If the final ruling is unfavorable, it may not only force the government to refund more than $100 billion in levied tariffs, but also shake the cornerstone of its economic strategy.That makes any tariff-related fiscal commitments fraught with uncertainty.
“$2,000 dividend” may be reflected in the form of tax deduction
According to reports, Bessant explicitly linked this “dividend” to the government’s tax cut agenda.
He explained that funding could come through a series of tax cuts on the president’s agenda, such as eliminating taxes on tips and overtime and implementing tax deductions for car loans.
This shows that the so-called “dividend” is more likely to be an estimate of the economic benefits of a policy combination rather than a one-time direct payment.
Trump and his Treasury Secretary have also shown different emphases on the core goals of tariffs.Trump emphasized in the post that the United States is “getting trillions of dollars” from tariffs and will soon begin repaying a “huge debt” of $37 trillion.
But Bessant pointed out in the interview that the “real goal” of the tariffs is to “rebalance trade” and ultimately achieve fair trade by encouraging manufacturing to return to the United States.He admitted that as manufacturing returns, tariff revenue will decline, but the increase in domestic economic activity will bring a more solid tax base.
Tariff policy faces key Supreme Court ruling
The Trump administration’s entire tariff framework hangs on a Supreme Court ruling.
According to CCTV News, on Wednesday, November 5, local time, the U.S. Supreme Court debated the legality of U.S. President Trump’s large-scale tariffs.
In a heated debate that lasted several hours, Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump-appointed justices Amy Barrett and Neil Gorsuch both raised sharp questions about the Trump administration’s position.The three conservative justices all questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tens of billions of dollars in tariffs every month, sending a signal that the final ruling may shake up Trump’s signature economic policies.
The media concluded that a majority of the Supreme Court justices appeared to be skeptical of Trump’s emergency tariff policy, with several conservative justices rejecting many of the government’s main arguments to defend import tariffs.The overall tempo suggests that at least a majority of the justices have reservations about the administration relying on emergency declarations to impose unlimited global tariffs.
