President Trump said on Tuesday that “at some point” he would reduce the tariff rate on Indian goods, and that the US was getting “close” to a trade deal with New Delhi.
“Right now they don’t love me, but they’ll love us again,” Trump said. “We’re getting a fair deal,” Trump said. “Pretty close to doing a deal that’s good for everybody.”
Trump has said most Americans can expect to get a “dividend” from tariffs of $2,000 or more, as the levies generate a surge in revenue.
That payoff could come in the form of the tax cuts laid out in the economic policy bill passed earlier in 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested.
On Sunday, Trump took to social media to say: “A dividend of at least $2,000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” in a post that began: “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!”
Speaking to ABC later, Bessent stressed that he hadn’t spoken to the president but speculated that the $2,000 dividend “could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda.”
The comments follow Trump’s back-and-forth with reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office, where he acknowledged that US consumers are “paying something” for tariffs.
“I think that they might be paying something. But when you take the overall impact, the Americans are gaining tremendously,” Trump said.
It was among the first acknowledgments from Trump that US consumers are footing at least some of the bill for his tariff regime, the bulk of which is facing a looming verdict from the Supreme Court.
In a closely watched case, a majority of the justices — both the court’s three liberal-leaning justices, as well as three more conservative ones — offered skeptical questions regarding the president’s authority to impose his most sweeping duties. If the Supreme Court does not side with Trump, it’s widely expected that the administration will seek out alternative methods to carry out the US’s trade agenda.
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
The US and China reached a trade truce. The thaw means China will suspend additional export controls on rare earth metals and end investigations into US chip companies. Meanwhile, the US will pause some of Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” on China for another year. On Thursday, the US pushed forward on plans to pause punitive measures on China’s shipbuilding industry.
China is planning to ease the flow of rare earths and other restricted materials in a bid to exclude companies which have connections to the US military, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The White House has said it will not allow the sale of Nvidia’s latest scaled-down AI chip to China, according to a report in The Information. This guidance would effectively shut Nvidia out of China.
Its not just India nearing a trade deal, Switzerland is also close to securing a 15% tariff on its exports to the US. According to people familiar with the matter, a deal may be concluded within the next two weeks.
A spat over an ad featuring the late Ronald Reagan continues between the US and Canada. The Canadian prime minister said recently that he apologized to Trump over the ad.
LIVE 34 updates
Bessent says Trump’s $2,000 ‘dividend’ may come via tax cuts
President Trump has said his sweeping tariffs will produce a hefty dollar “dividend” for Americans, as he mocked critics of his trade policy.
“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Sunday that began: “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!”
Trump pointed to the boost to US coffers from levies so far, plus the record-setting run in stocks, as reasons to believe in tariffs.
Asked by ABC about the comments, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent focused on the long-term goal of tariffs — boosting investment in the US — rather than the short-term surge of revenue generated.
Bloomberg reports:
