CREDIT: Emilio Perez Ibarguen
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on his X account Wednesday morning a new $1 commemorative gold coin featuring President Donald Trump’s likeness to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The U.S. Mint will begin striking one-dollar coins featuring a portrait of President Donald Trump on its face in commemoration of the nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday morning.
The coin, which on the reverse side depicts the presidential seal with “250” inscribed on the shield, “celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all,” Bessent wrote in a social media post.
Living people, including Presidents, rarely grace American currency thanks to a compilation of laws, though the new coinage appears to skirt around those restrictions.
Trump signed bipartisan legislation in 2020 authorizing the Treasury Secretary to issue dollar coins during the 2026 calendar year carrying designs that are “emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial
That law states that no person, living or dead, could be included on the reverse side of the coin — but some have argued it appears to allow for Trump’s portrait (or other living people) to remain on the coin face.
However, federal law is generally understood to prohibit any living person from appearing on most currency. When Congress created the Presidential $1 Coin Program in 2007, it also dictated that no living Presidents, or those who had died in the past two years, would be featured on those coins. And an 1866 law fully prohibits living people from appearing on paper currency, though it doesn’t specifically mention coinage.
The final design appears to be a notable scaling back from the ambitious draft design obtained by POLITICO in October. That design featured Trump on both sides of the coin, with the reverse side depicting him holding his fist in the air with the words “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT” inscribed above him.
When reached for comment, the Treasury Department said that the coins are composed of non-precious metals with a gold-like finish on the exterior. They added that the coins will be available for purchase in rolls and bags in the fall.
The department directed questions regarding the legality of the coins to a comment from the acting chief of the Mint’s Office of Design Management at a January meeting of the Commission of Fine Arts, in which she said legal researchers at the Mint and Treasury had determined the proposed coin would not violate any laws.
The newly announced coin is not the first attempt at placing his likeness on currency. Some in Congress and the Treasury floated the idea of creating a $250 bill with him on it earlier this year, but Republicans on the Hill largely didn’t appear to reciprocate the excitement.
