Trump’s $2,000 Tariff Dividend, Mamdani’s Power Team, 50-Year Mortgages & Apple’s Satellite Ambitions

10th November 2025

Donald Trump promises Americans a $2,000 “tariff dividend” as the White House leans on customs revenue to counter cost-of-living pressures. In New York, newly elected mayor Zohran Mamdani unveils a heavyweight transition team featuring former FTC Chair Lina Khan. The administration is also working on a 50-year mortgage plan, a bold bid to reshape housing affordability. And Apple is quietly building the next frontier of iPhone connectivity with new satellite-powered features. All this and more in today’s Read It And Eat!

Major Headlines

• Trump says a tariff dividend of 'at least' $2,000 will be paid to most Americans

President Donald Trump on Sunday said that a dividend payment of "at least" $2,000 would be paid to most Americans from US tariff revenues. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: "We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion." "A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone." 

The Supreme Court is reviewing the legality of Trump's sweeping tariffs, which he has justified under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Lower courts previously determined that many of the levies were unlawful. The president had floated the idea of a $1,000 to $2,000 "distribution to the people" in an interview with One America News Network in October, touting tariff revenues he predicted would bring in over a trillion dollars a year. The Treasury Department said in its September statement that it has collected $195 billion from customs duties in the fiscal year 2025.

For consumers, the idea of a dividend payout may be particularly welcome amid mounting cost-of-living pressures and the ongoing government shutdown.

But any such scheme would likely need congressional approval, and Trump has previously signaled he would prefer to use tariff revenues to tackle the national debt. Appearing on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told host George Stephanopoulos that the administration's goal with tariffs was to "rebalance trade" rather than to take in revenue. Bessent says $2k 'tariff dividend' may come via tax cuts. Yahoo.New

• Lina Khan among veteran names appointed to Zohran Mamdani’s transition team

Fresh off his historic victory in New York City’s mayoral election, Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday announced a slate of seasoned officials to help lead his transition to City Hall, offering an early glimpse at how he intends to turn his ambitious campaign promises into reality. “In the coming months, my team and I will build a City Hall capable of delivering on the promises of this campaign,” Mamdani, a democratic socialist, said at his first news conference as mayor-elect. “We will form an administration that is equal parts capable and compassionate, driven by integrity and willing to work just as hard as the millions of New Yorkers who call this city home.”

That transition team will include two former deputy mayors, Maria Torres-Springer and Melanie Hartzog; former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan; and Grace Bonilla, the head of United Way of New York City, a nonprofit focused on low-income residents. Political strategist Elana Leopold will serve as executive director of the team. Mamdani said the officials would help steer his transition as he adapts from the “poetry of campaigning” to the “beautiful prose of governing,” a winking reference to a phrase used by former Gov. Mario Cuomo, the late father of one of his opponents in the mayoral race, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The incoming mayor said he had not yet heard from Andrew Cuomo since defeating him on Tuesday night in a race that saw the highest turnout for a New York City mayoral election in more than five decades. He said he had spoken by phone with his Republican opponent, Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani, who at 34 will be the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century, now faces the task of implementing his sweeping affordability agenda, while taking charge of the largest police department, sanitation department and school system in the country.

Among his campaign’s promises are free child care, free city bus service, city-run grocery stores and a new Department of Community Safety that would expand on an existing city initiative that sends mental health care workers, rather than police, to handle certain emergency calls. Though he has framed his election as a break from the political mold, his transition team includes familiar faces from the previous two mayoral administrations.

Basil Smikle, a Democratic political strategist and Columbia University professor, said the broad knowledge base of Mamdani’s new hires gives the mayor-elect an “opportunity to assuage the concerns about his governance.” Mamdani, who came under fire during the race for his past comments criticizing the New York Police Department  on Wednesday, also reiterated his intention to keep the city’s current police commissioner, Jessica Tisch. She has declined to say whether she would accept the role. Fortune

• Housing director confirms administration ‘working on’ 50-year mortgage after Trump hint

Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte on Saturday said the Trump administration is “working on” a plan to introduce 50-year mortgage terms for home buyers.  “Thanks to President Trump, we are indeed working on The 50 year Mortgage  – a complete game changer,” Pulte wrote in a statement on the social platform X. 

It followed a Truth Social post by President Trump earlier in the day where he shared a graphic juxtaposing an image of him next to one of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The administration that oversaw the New Deal established the 30-year mortgage standard to help citizens recover from the Great Depression. Similarly, Trump campaigned on creating affordability for the younger generation last year, but the president has faced headwinds on the subject more recently as prices rise.

Google searches for “help with mortgage” recently climbed to their highest level since 2009, while adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, have also been trending. ARMs made up about 10 percent of all mortgage applications in September  the highest share in nearly two years and well above the post-2008 average of 6 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). Still, home prices and interest rates remain relatively high, with the median household spending approximately 38.4 percent of their monthly income on mortgage payments, Redfin determined. 

In May, Trump said he was considering bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public. The two enterprises key to the mortgage market were originally created by Congress but remained private companies funded by the Treasury Department until the housing market crash in 2008. “I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding that he would make a decision in the “near future.” “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned,” he added. Pulte, whose agency is responsible for keeping tabs on Fannie and Freddie, confirmed last month that Trump is “opportunistically evaluating” whether to release the two enterprises to the market as early as the end of 2025.  The Hill

• Apple reportedly plans ambitious satellite-powered iPhone features 

  
  

While Apple’s iPhone already supports texting, calling emergency services, and contacting roadside assistance via satellite connectivity, the company has many more satellite-powered features in the works, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. In-development features reportedly include an API allowing app makers to support satellite connections in their own apps, a version of Apple Maps that allows users to navigate without a cell or WiFi connection, adding photos to messaging, and increased support for “natural usage,” allowing users to connect to a satellite even if their phone isn’t pointed directly at the sky.

All of these features would potentially increase the usability of iPhones when their owners are outside the range of traditional cell networks. Another potential upgrade, first reported by The Information, could improve 5G networks by allowing them to connect to satellites for increased coverage. The basic features would be free, Gurman says, with customers paying carriers for more advanced support. In addition, Apple’s satellite partner Globalstar reportedly needs to improve its infrastructure to support these upgrades, which Apple is helping to finance. TechCrunch 

Minor Headlines 

• COP30 Climate Summit  Begins Today  Reuters

  
  

• Pfizer outbids Novo Nordisk to buy obesity drugmaker Metsera for $10B Bloomberg

  
  

• Super Typhoon Fung-wong kills two people, forces more than 1 million to evacuate as it makes landfall on the Philippines' Reuters

  
  

• Visa and Mastercard near settlement with merchants that might lower transaction fees Reuters

  
  

• Wealthy Chinese sidestep Singapore for Dubai Financial Times

  
  

• YouTube TV is giving customers a $20 credit for Disney blackout TechCrunch 

  
  

• Amazon sends legal threats to Perplexity over agentic browsing TechCrunch 

  
  

• US Senate advances bill to end federal shutdown Reuters