President Donald Trump is doubling down on his promise to send Americans $5,000 checks if Republicans retain control of Congress, but one of the newest ideas for paying for them would depend on tens of thousands of wealthy foreigners handing the federal government $5 million apiece. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that the proposed payments would not come from taxpayers or add to the deficit, pointing in part to the administration's yet-to-launch Trump Platinum Card program. Lutnick told NBC News that more than 100,000 people were already on a waiting list for the program.
"We have a waitlist of more than 100,000 people who want to come," Lutnick said. "That's $500 billion." Trump reiterated his commitment to the checks in a Truth Social post Friday night after initially announcing the "Trump Dividend" at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, and criticized Democrats who have said the promise amounts to a bribe for votes in the upcoming November election. "President Trump has consistently proven his doubters wrong, drawing a clear contrast with the Democrats’ record of historic inflation, unfettered illegal immigration, skyrocketing crime, and weakness on the world stage.
With the continued support of the American people, President Trump will keep delivering real results.” The president said every adult U.S. citizen would receive $5,000 if Republicans retain both the House and Senate, with the money required to be spent in the United States. The proposal, if it materializes, will be hugely expensive. The calculated that it would cost about $1.23 trillion, based on the number of adult U.S. citizens potentially eligible for the payments.
Vice President JD Vance subsequently suggested wealthy Americans could be excluded, although the administration has not announced an income cutoff. That has left the White House facing a basic question: where would more than $1 trillion come from? The official Trump Card website describes the Platinum Card as "coming soon." Foreign nationals can currently join a waiting list, but the program itself has not launched.
Once it does, the administration says applicants would pay a $15,000 processing fee and make a $5 million contribution to the government in exchange for the ability to spend up to 270 days per year in the United States without being subject to U.S. tax on their non-U.S. income. By Lutnick's arithmetic, it means 100,000 people paying $5 million each would produce $500 billion toward the cost of the dividend checks. But even if every person Lutnick says is on the waiting list ultimately qualified and paid the full amount, that would cover only about 41 percent of the estimated $1.23 trillion cost.
Funding the entire estimated cost through Platinum Cards alone would require some 246,000 people to make $5 million contributions. The government's website says the contribution would be collected when the program launches and an applicant proceeds through the process; a place on the current waiting list therefore does not itself represent $5 million in federal revenue. The similar Gold Card launched in December 2025, an immigration program offering wealthy foreign nationals an expedited path to U.S. permanent residency in exchange for a $1 million contribution to the federal government, plus a $15,000 processing fee.
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