Treasury Defends Lawfulness of Minting a $1 Trump Coin

The Treasury Department said that a 2020 collectible coinage law allows a living person to appear on U.S. currency.


The Treasury Department said on social media that “there is no profile more emblematic for the front of this coin than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump.” Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By Alan Rappeport
Reporting from Washington
Oct. 6, 2025

The Trump administration on Monday defended its plan to mint a $1 coin bearing the image of President Trump despite the fact that an 1866 law dictates that only the deceased can appear on U.S. currency. … Initial designs for the coins released by the U.S. treasurer last week stirred controversy and accusations that the Trump administration was violating the law so that Mr. Trump could honor himself by putting his face on a coin. The 1866 law enshrined a tradition that individuals could appear on U.S. currency only posthumously to avoid the appearance that America was a monarchy.

But in a post on Monday, the Treasury Department said that featuring Mr. Trump on a coin in celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday was authorized under the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020.

Quoting from the legislation, it noted that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was exercising authorities to issue coinage “with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial” and that the proposed images reflect Mr. Trump and his vision for America. … “On this momentous anniversary, there is no profile more emblematic for the front of this coin than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump,” the Treasury Department said in a post on X.

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The initial restriction on featuring the living on currency came in 1866. An explanation of the legislation on an archived page from the Treasury’s website [see link below] noted that the act “was caused by an uproar over the actions of the chief of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Spencer Clark,” who had “placed himself on a five-cent note and had a large quantity of them printed before it was noticed.” … That page has been removed from the Treasury’s website.

A correction was made on Oct. 6, 2025: An earlier version of this article misspelled the first name of an American abolitionist. She was Harriet Tubman, not Harriett.

Alan Rappeport is an economic policy reporter for The Times, based in Washington. He covers the Treasury Department and writes about taxes, trade and fiscal matters.