Trump to put his picture in US passports
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A US passport featuring an image and signature of US President Donald Trump in a rendering released by the State Department in Washington DC on April 28.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - An image of President Donald Trump will soon appear in some American passports, officials said on April 28, shattering another norm as the US leader aggressively puts his personal stamp on government institutions.
There are few precedents anywhere in the world, let alone in a democracy, of displaying sitting leaders’ pictures in passports, and Mr Trump would be the first sitting US president featured in Americans’ travel documents.
The State Department said it would offer the limited-edition passport to mark this year’s 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.
The department – which has historically viewed itself as outside US partisan politics – posted on social media a sample of the passport, which features a stern-looking image of Mr Trump superimposed over the Declaration of July 4, 1776.
Mr Trump’s signature – in gold – lies underneath.
A second limited-edition passport showed a historic painting of the US Founding Fathers.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said: “As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed US passports to commemorate this historic occasion.”
Another department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Trump-themed passports would only be available at in-person appointments in Washington “for as long as there is availability”.
The passports would come at no additional cost, the official said.
It was not immediately clear if passport applicants could refuse the special edition.
It was not immediately clear if passport applicants could refuse the Trump picture, although the majority of Americans seeking passports do so through local post offices, which would not provide the special edition.
Lawmakers of the Democratic Party criticised US Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the passport initiative.
“Secretary Rubio should spend more time convincing his boss to end his war of choice in Iran, and less on wasting American tax dollars indulging Trump’s vanity,” the US House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Democrats wrote on social media platform X.
Among countries that carry artwork in their passports, nearly all feature either historical imagery or nature.
Even North Korea, which plasters pictures of leader Kim Jong Un across the country and demands reverence, does not feature him in passports, which instead depict the sacred Mount Paektu peak.
Current US passports depict multiple scenes from the country’s history such as the moon landing along with historic sites including the Statue of Liberty.
Since returning to office in 2025, Mr Trump has slapped himself on government institutions in an unprecedented way.
Several government buildings in the capital have put up banners of the president, while officials have added his name onto the Kennedy Center performing arts centre and the dismantled US Institute of Peace.
In March, the Treasury Department said Mr Trump’s signature would start appearing on the dollar, in another first.
Britain and other Commonwealth countries feature on their currency the likeness of King Charles III, who is a head of state without direct involvement in politics.
The king met with Mr Trump on April 28 during a state visit to Washington.
Only around half of all Americans hold valid passports, less than in many other Western nations, and people in states that voted for Mr Trump are less likely to travel internationally, according to surveys. AFP
