Trump Administration Pushes For New $250 Banknote Featuring Trump

Officials in the Trump administration have been pressing the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design a new $250 banknote bearing President Donald Trump’s portrait, a move that would mark the first time a living person has appeared on American currency in more than 150 years.

Four current and former bureau employees told the Washington Post that administration officials urged the agency responsible for printing U.S. currency to develop the new denomination.

U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and senior adviser Mike Brown reportedly sent mock-up designs of the proposed banknote to bureau staff in August, including one featuring Trump’s portrait at the centre alongside the signatures of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

A mock-up of the proposed note, obtained by the Post, also includes the phrase “250 AMERICA”, linking the design to the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations.

British painter Iain Alexander, who designed the mock-up, said Trump personally reviewed the design and suggested changes including the addition of red, white and blue colouring and a logo marking the anniversary.

The proposal faces significant legal and practical obstacles. United States federal law prohibits portraits of living people from appearing on U.S. currency, while bureau staff said producing a new banknote would take several years.

“We are not authorised to do this. We cannot progress any further, and all stakeholders have not yet met to discuss the next steps,” one employee said.

Former bureau director Larry Felix also said the proposal was “not statutorily authorised”, noting that the last redesign of the $100 note took more than a decade to complete.

In February 2025, Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina introduced the “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act”, which would direct the bureau to design and issue the note and create an exemption to 19th-century legislation banning living figures on currency. The bill has stalled in Congress.

A Treasury Department spokesperson said the bureau is conducting “appropriate planning and due diligence” in relation to the legislation, but did not confirm any decision to proceed.

Any final issuance would require legislative approval and multiple regulatory steps.