DETROIT (TNS) — I don’t want the $2,000 rebate check Donald Trump is floating to share the plunder from the tariffs he’s imposed on America’s trading partners.

To be blunt, if I’m deemed eligible, the president can take my check and shove it, unless this year’s $1.78 trillion budget deficit is wiped away.

Trump has expressed an intention to use the tariff proceeds to both pay down the $40 trillion federal debt and salve American household budgets. Here’s what he posted on Truth Social: “All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.”

The actual truth is, unless he’s found some magic beans to plant, the tariffs won’t generate near that much jack.

CNN reports more than 163 million Americans filed tax returns last year; if each one got a $2,000 check, it would total $326 billion. Trump says high-income earners will be excluded. He doesn’t specify a threshold, but if the cut-off is $100,000 annually, the pay-outs would still total about $300 billion.

So, how much money does Trump have to work with? The Tax Foundation pegged the tariff haul at $174 billion. But only $100 billion is new revenue. That doesn’t nearly cover the nut for even a scaled-down bonus plan.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is tamping down expectations, saying the tariff distribution may come in the form of already-proposed tax relief on tips and social security income, or mitigation payments to businesses such as farms that are hurt most by the trade levies.

My criticism of the rebates doesn’t ignore the damage tariffs are doing to everyday Americans, a hit the Tax Foundation calls a $1,200 tax on every household.

Trump claims he can do everything better than Joe Biden. But the bonuses are right out of the former president’s “How to Fuel Inflation” playbook. If they add more price pressure, their benefit will be short-lived.

It’s nice to think the tariffs could lower the debt and put money into citizens’ pockets. But they’re not generating nearly enough revenue to justify the damage they’re doing to the economy, estimated at a 0.6% decrease in GDP over the next decade.

If the levies generate more income than estimated, don’t spend the Trump rebates yet. The Supreme Court is deciding whether the emergency powers the president claimed to impose the tariffs are justified. I doubt the justices will allow him to continue to use tariffs as a cudgel to bend other nations to his will on a range of issues that have nothing to do with trade.

If the court rebukes him, Trump, working with Congress as the rule of law requires, should restructure his tariff regime to foster stronger foreign markets for American goods and services and cheaper products for American consumers. If that produces more tax revenue, as it should, Trump should pour every dime into debt reduction and forget about buying love with money he doesn’t have.