Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Stockholm on July 29. – Magnus Lejhall\/TT News Agency\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday threw cold water on the idea that Americans could soon receive tariff rebate checks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bessent, during an interview on CNBC\u2019s \u201cSquawk Box,\u201d said that revenue from import tariffs will be put toward the US national debt.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, at a point, we\u2019re going to be able to do it,\u201d he said, noting how S&P Global on Monday affirmed its AA+ credit rating on the United States. \u201cBut President [Donald] Trump and I are laser-focused on paying down the debt.\u201d<\/p>\n Some lawmakers have proposed using tariff revenue to send rebate checks of at least $600 per adult and dependent child. A family of four could end up with around $2,400 from the federal government.<\/p>\n The United States has collected $100 billion in tariff revenue since April, when a large swath of Trump\u2019s global tariffs went into effect, according to Treasury Department data through July. Trump, in touting the potential revenue from import taxes, has floated a couple of uses for those funds: First, to pay down the nation\u2019s massive debt, but also to potentially give \u201ca dividend\u201d to the American people.<\/p>\n Bessent on Tuesday said that tariff revenue is on pace to exceed expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been saying that tariff revenue could be $300 billion this year,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to have to raise that up substantially. I think that we\u2019re going to bring down the deficit-to-GDP, we\u2019ll start paying down debt, and then, at a point, that can be used as an offset to the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Bessent declined to provide details about how much higher revenues are expected to climb, other than saying it would be \u201csubstantial.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Bessent said he hopes there could be relief coming for Americans via lower interest rates.<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve has held interest rates steady since December of last year. The probability of a September rate cut has risen following a July jobs report that showed lackluster employment gains<\/a> during the past three months, but those odds<\/a> dropped from nearly 100% to the 80% realm after the latest batch of inflation data, released last week, showed a pickup in some price hikes<\/a> both for businesses and consumers.<\/p>\n