Trump Reaffirms '$5,000' Pledge If GOP Wins Midterms, Cites Tariffs as Funding Source

U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated on September 10 (local time) his promise to distribute $5,000 (approx. 6.7 million won) to every adult U.S. citizen if the Republican Party wins the November midterm elections, pointing to tariff revenues as the funding source.

Speaking on the final day of the Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas, President Trump said, "If we win the midterms, we will give a 'Trump dividend' of $5,000 to every adult citizen in our country," adding, "We can do that because our country has never been better than it is now."

This reaffirms the surprise pledge he unveiled during his speech on the first day of the convention.

In his speech the previous day, President Trump vowed, "If the Republicans win both the House and the Senate," he would "give a $5,000 dividend to every adult citizen in America."

As controversy grew over the feasibility of the $5,000 dividend, President Trump earlier hinted in a Fox News interview that tariff revenues collected by the U.S. government could serve as the funding source.

When asked by the anchor about how the dividend would be funded, President Trump replied, "We are taking in $21 trillion. No country has ever taken in anything close to that amount," attributing it to "that beautiful word, tariffs."

During his subsequent convention speech, President Trump also mentioned, "$22 trillion is pouring into this country. The past record was $3 trillion set many years ago by a totally different country [China]."

The figures of $21 trillion to $22 trillion repeatedly cited by President Trump in his interview and speech are interpreted to mean the total amount of investments into the U.S. from other countries expected to flow in under his tariff policies, rather than the U.S. government's actual tariff revenue.

Fox News analyzed that this remark suggested tariff revenues could cover part of the funding for the pledge if the Republican Party maintains control of Congress through a midterm victory.

This interpretation is reinforced by the fact that Vice President JD Vance appeared on the same network to state that the funding for the "Trump dividend" would be covered by tariff revenues.

However, even the pro-Trump network Fox News expressed skepticism, noting that U.S. tariff revenue—which hovers around $200 billion annually—"falls far short of the estimated cost of this pledge."

U.S. media outlets analyzed that if Republicans win and Trump fulfills his pledge to distribute $5,000 to approximately 240 million U.S. adults, it would require $1.2 trillion (approx. 1,616 trillion won).

In the interview, President Trump explained that besides tariff revenues, another financing method is that "we are making money, like with TikTok," adding, "We collected a fee. I secured a fee for our country. With Intel, it's $10 billion."

It has been previously reported that during the process of transferring TikTok's U.S. operations into a joint venture centered on U.S. investors, the investors paid a total of $10 billion in fees to the U.S. Treasury.

The $10 billion from Intel appears to refer to the value of Intel shares acquired by the U.S. government.

Additionally, President Trump said, "I think there's a very good chance the Republicans will win [the midterms]," but warned that if Republicans fail to win, it would lead to a Democrat-led "impeachment inquiry," claiming, "They have been talking about bringing this country to a standstill with political gridlock."

President Trump criticized them, saying, "They are the radical left. They are socialists, but they're communists," and added, "All they have is bad policies."

When asked if he regrets the war with Iran that complicated the midterm political landscape, he replied, "No regrets. I don't believe in the word regret."

He then asserted, "If I had to do it again, I would do the exact same thing," adding, "I took away their nuclear capability."

Furthermore, predicting that oil prices that soared due to the war would drop immediately once the conflict ends, he stated, "I believe this [war] will end right after the election. Maybe even before, but I think it will end right after."

Meanwhile, appearing mindful of media reports suggesting that the convention's turnout fell short of expectations, President Trump claimed during his speech, "Look at that. There's not an empty seat up to the very highest tier," and added, "There are thousands outside [the venue]."

He continued, "Last night our arena was packed," adding, "Even the [VIP] boxes, the boxes for wealthy people, were packed."

(Photo: Getty Images)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.