Trump to Appear on New $1 Coin Marking US 250th Anniversary

The US Mint will begin producing a new $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump to mark the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced.

The front will show Trump’s portrait alongside the inscriptions “Liberty”, “In God We Trust” and “1776–2026”. The reverse will feature the bald eagle from the presidential seal.

The design differs from a draft released last October, which showed Trump raising a clenched fist beneath the words “fight, fight, fight” – a reference to the assassination attempt during the 2024 campaign.

Trump said he was “honored” by the coin. “They gave me a coin”, he told Fox Business. “That's very unusual from what I understand.”

The plan has raised legal questions. An 1866 law prohibits portraits of living people on US currency, although it applies to paper money produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Coins are produced by the US Mint.

Congress passed legislation in 2020 authorizing $1 coins to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary, but the law also barred designs depicting living people.

Bessent noted that then-President Calvin Coolidge appeared on a coin issued for the United States’ 150th anniversary. “So we can put living people's images on a coin”, he told Fox News.

The Treasury Department said the coin was already in production in Philadelphia.

(Reuters, bak)