The US Mint is producing a $1 coin bearing President Trump's face, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiling the design on July 15.

The coin shows Trump's image on the front alongside the text "In God We Trust" and a 1776-2026 inscription. It won't contain any precious metals but will carry a gold-like finish, according to a Treasury Department spokeswoman.

Bessent framed the coin as part of commemorations for America's 250th birthday. It's already in production at a Philadelphia facility and will be available this fall.

The legal question isn't settled

Multiple federal laws complicate the move. The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 limits $1 coins to deceased presidents.

The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 bars portraits of living people on a coin's tails side. And 31 US Code 5112 states no coin may bear the image of any living or recently deceased president.

The Treasury Department's counter-argument rests on the same 2020 law. Officials say it separately authorizes $1 coins with designs emblematic of the United States Semiquincentennial during 2026, and that a Trump likeness qualifies under that provision.

Not everyone agrees. Donald Scarinci, the longest-serving member of the bipartisan Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, called the coin illegal and said Congress should act to stop it and confiscate any coins produced.

That committee, which federal law requires to review new commemorative coin designs, has so far refused to consider designs featuring Trump.

The design Bessent revealed matches one of the proposed Semiquincentennial options shown by the US Mint earlier this year, not the 24-karat gold commemorative coin approved by the Federal Commission of Fine Arts in March.

That separate coin, approved by a Trump-appointed panel, depicts the president leaning on the Resolute Desk.

The new $1 coin isn't the only currency move the administration has pursued. In May, Bessent revealed a proposed $250 bill featuring Trump's face. That design would require new legislation, since existing law bars living individuals from appearing on paper currency.

Historical precedent for a sitting president on a coin does exist. Calvin Coolidge appeared on a half-dollar coin in 1926 to mark the nation's 150th anniversary.

The administration's broader pattern of attaching Trump's name or likeness to federal buildings, an airport, bridges, and passports makes this coin part of a larger institutional imprint, not a one-off commemorative gesture.