Are you eligible for the proposed $2,000 stimulus check?

The Trump administration continues to push for tariff rebate checks, but it remains unclear specifically who will receive the $2,000 payments.

Although the check proposal has not yet been finalized and will likely require congressional approval, the administration is still pushing for the payments. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday in a television interview that the checks will likely be distributed only to low- and middle-income earners.

“[President Donald Trump is] “He’s going to restrict it to people who need the money,” Lutnick said. “What he’s trying to do is make sure people in America understand that tariffs are their policy. It’s to make America stronger.”

Lutnick’s comments reiterate the idea that Trump’s tariff rebate plan would have an income limit, though officials did not provide further details on who could qualify for the proposed tariff “earnings.”

Earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said in a televised interview that the administration was considering a $2,000 stimulus check for families making $100,000 a year or less. These income levels would be similar to qualifications for coronavirus stimulus checks, said Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation.

“There are a lot of options here,” Besant said in the interview. “The president is talking about a $2,000 rebate, and that would be for families with incomes of less than $100,000, for example.”

The idea originated earlier this month, when Trump posted on Truth Social that “dividends of at least $2,000 per person” would be paid to “everyone.” However, his post noted that high-income earners would not receive the payment. Trump wrote that the payments would be funded through tariff revenues.

Whether the federal government’s budget supports issuing stimulus checks to Americans has been questioned by some economists. York wrote that the new tariffs are expected to raise nearly $217 billion in revenue in 2026. However, 2022 tax data show that if 123 million households earning less than $100,000 each got the proposed stimulus, it would cost nearly $300 billion.