President Donald Trump’s signature will appear on future U.S. currency in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary this year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Thursday.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are on a path toward unprecedented economic growth, lasting dollar dominance, and fiscal strength and stability,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “There is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his name, and it is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial.”
While the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew during the first year of Trump’s second term, there have also been financial challenges, according to the Economist. These include lingering inflation, the president’s controversial tariffs and government shutdowns. Reuters/Ipsos poll results released this week showed that “just 34% of Americans say the economy is very or somewhat strong; a larger share (63%) describes it as very or somewhat weak.”
Still, the Trump administration hailed the president’s handling of the economy.
“As the 250th anniversary of our great nation approaches, American currency will continue to stand as a symbol of prosperity, strength, and the unshakable spirit of the American people under President Trump’s leadership,” said Treasurer Brandon Beach. “The President’s mark on history as the architect of America’s Golden Age economic revival is undeniable. Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”
According to the treasury, Trump will be the first sitting president to have his signature appear along the Secretary of the Treasury’s on U.S. paper currency.
In an exclusive report on the news published Thursday, Vanity Fair noted that Trump “has spent much of his second term in office working to leave his mark on Washington, D.C.,” from banners with his face on federal buildings to the massive ballroom project at the White House. Audacy has also reported on the renaming of the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center and plans for the U.S. Treasury to produce $1 coins featuring Trump.
CNN reported last week that President Donald Trump’s handpicked Commission of Fine Arts voted Thursday to approve a commemorative coin for the United States’ 250th birthday featuring the president’s likeness.” It also said that the commission’s vice chair, James McCrery, made a motion to make the 24-karat gold coin “as large as possible” up to three inches in diameter.
However, there has been pushback on those plans, in the form of a lawsuit filed this week by Portland, Ore., resident James Rickher against Bessent and Megan Sullivan, the acting chief of design management at the U.S. Mint. According to local outlet KOIN 6 News, Richher alleged that the coin would be a violation against U.S. code 31 U.S.C. § 5114’s ban on U.S. currency showing an image of a living president.
“I saw the story last week… where they announced that they were going to make a Trump coin,” Rickher told KOIN 6 News. “I was like, that seems really, really odd.”
