By Elvira Jordan
United States President Donald Trump has pledged to pay every adult American $5,000 if Republicans win control of both chambers of Congress in November’s midterm elections, a proposal that could cost the federal government about $1.3 trillion.
Trump made the promise during the Republican Party’s first-ever convention held in the middle of a presidential term, drawing loud applause from supporters in Dallas, Texas.
“If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000,” Trump told the gathering.
He offered few details on how the proposed payments would be administered or funded, saying only that the money would have to be spent within the United States. Vice-President JD Vance has linked the proposal to revenue generated by the Trump administration through tariffs.
With nearly 270 million adults in the United States, a $5,000 payment to each would amount to roughly $1.3 trillion, raising questions over the financial and legal feasibility of the proposal.
Democrats have dismissed the pledge as an “empty promise”, while questions have also been raised over whether such a programme could be implemented under existing law and how Congress would finance it.
Trump’s announcement comes amid economic pressures linked in part to the ongoing US-Israel conflict with Iran. Iranian retaliation has reportedly included attacks on US bases and allies in the Gulf, while disruption around the Strait of Hormuz has affected global oil markets.
The strait is a major international energy route through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies have traditionally passed. Its disruption has contributed to volatility in global oil prices and increased pressure on the Trump administration over the economic impact of the conflict.
Trump warned supporters ahead of his convention speech that the war would not end until after the midterm elections and that oil prices would not fall before then.
At the Republican convention, he argued that the short-term economic difficulties were necessary to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, before returning to the impact of the conflict on Americans’ cost of living.
His proposed $5,000 dividend was presented as a way of increasing Americans’ spending power and received a strong reaction from the audience.
Trump ended the proposal with an appeal for the money to be spent domestically, telling supporters: “We don’t want you going to Canada to spend the money.”
