Play store
US President Donald Trump says he would offer every adult American a $5,000 (£3,700) payout if Republicans win both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections — a plan that could cost more than $1 trillion.
Trump made the pledge in a speech at the Republican Party’s first-ever convention held in the middle of a US presidential term.
He gave no details on how the plan would work or be funded, saying only that the money would have to be spent in the US. Vice-President JD Vance has linked the proposal to revenue generated by the Trump administration through tariffs.
The plan has proved controversial. Democrats have labelled it an “empty promise”, while others have questioned whether such a pledge would be legal.
It may be the first time a US president has offered such a payout to Americans as part of an election-year appeal urging them to turn out to vote.
The idea drew raucous applause at the convention, and Trump appeared to relish the moment.
There are nearly 270 million adults in the US, meaning a $5,000 payout for each would cost the federal government around $1.3 trillion.
Questions have already been raised about whether the plan is feasible, particularly as prices rise in the US, partly as a result of the war that the US and Israel started with Iran in February.
Iran’s retaliation has included attacks on US bases and allies in the Gulf. Crucially, it has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits.
The disruption has caused fluctuations in oil prices worldwide, while Trump has faced pressure from members of his own party to end the war.
On Wednesday, the US president warned his supporters that the war would not end until after the midterms and that oil prices would not come down until then.
He made the comments ahead of a speech in Texas and repeated them at the convention, where he argued that short-term economic pain was worthwhile to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
Trump’s lengthy speech at the Republican convention in Dallas, Texas, focused on the core issue of the conflict — its impact on Americans’ standard of living. His pledge to increase their spending power drew raucous applause from the audience.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them,” Trump said, “I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000.”
“We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money,” he said.
“We don’t want you going to China, to Germany. You’ve got to spend the money in the United States of America.” It is not clear how the spending would be monitored.
The White House has been asked for further clarification on how Trump’s plan would work.
This is not the first time Trump has promised such payouts. He has previously proposed $2,000 cheques funded by tariff revenues.
Vice-President JD Vance indicated that the post-election payments could similarly be made possible by revenue generated through Trump’s wide-ranging tariff programme.
“What the president is talking about is fundamentally a dividend for American workers,” Vance told Fox News.
“We’re taking in an extraordinary amount of revenue because the president of the United States is actually standing up to both foreign companies but also foreign countries who’ve been taking advantage of America’s workers.”
Vance added: “I don’t think it’s a controversial idea.”