ISTANBUL

After US citizens get $2,000 “dividend” checks from higher tariff proceeds paid to the US government, the rest of the "massive" tariff income will be used to "substantially" pay down the national debt, US President Donald Trump said on his social media website Monday.

"All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT," Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform, which he owns.

Trump has proposed providing $2,000 to most Americans, financed through higher tariff revenues generated under his administration, but few details have been released about the possible payments.

“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

"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," he said Sunday.

Many economists, however, have said he is overstating the tariff income and that it might not even cover the $2,000 checks, let alone a large payment towards reducing the US debt.

Over the weekend, addressing Trump’s online posts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested there might not be any checks, but instead the money would come in the form of tax cuts.

“It could be just the tax decreases that we are seeing on the president’s agenda. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, deductibility on auto loans. Those are substantial deductions that are being financed in the tax bill,” he told ABC News.

Also on Monday, Trump called people opposed to his tariffs "fools."

According to the Treasury Department’s September report, the US generated $195 billion in tariff revenue this year. From February to September – coinciding with much of Trump’s time in the Oval Office this year – around $176 billion in tariffs entered the Treasury Department.

And as of November, the US national debt stands at a historic high of $38.12 trillion.