Plans linked to Donald Trump's allies to mint a £195 ($250) banknote bearing the president's face are colliding head‑on with a little‑known but long‑standing federal rule that may render the idea legally impossible. Pitched as a patriotic centrepiece for America's 250th anniversary, the proposal has already run into quiet but firm resistance inside parts of the US Treasury.
At the centre of the controversy is a statutory restriction that has governed US currency design for more than a century, raising immediate questions about whether the proposal can move beyond the talking stage.
