Investing.com -- U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced on the All In podcast Thursday that he has sold 1,000 Gold Cards in one day. The Gold Card program grants individuals the right to U.S. citizenship and is priced at $5 million each. This suggests that the program generated total revenue of $5 billion in one day.
"And by the way, yesterday I sold 1,000," Lutnick said on the podcast.
The concept of the Gold Card program was previously discussed by Lutnick as a potential solution to pay off the U.S. national debt. He suggested that the sale of 200,000 Trump Gold Cards could contribute $1 trillion towards reducing the national debt.
Expanding on the potential financial impact of the program, President Donald Trump speculated that the sale of 1 million Gold Cards could raise $5 trillion, while 10 million cards could bring in $50 trillion, an amount that would be enough to eliminate the national debt.
On the podcast, Lutnick explained that the origin of the Gold Card idea was traced back to a conversation between John Paulson and Donald Trump, where the concept of selling visas, rather than giving them away, was proposed. Lutnick was then brought into the discussion to strategize the implementation of the program. He mentioned that the software necessary for the Gold Card program is currently being developed by Elon Musk’s team and is expected to be released in about two weeks.
Lutnick clarified the terms of the Gold Card, explaining that it essentially replaces the green card, allowing holders to become permanent residents of the United States. While they have the option to become citizens, Lutnick noted that most are unlikely to do so, as they would then be subject to global taxation by the U.S. Instead, they will have the right to reside in the country, with each card priced at $5 million.