WASHNGTON – President Trump has announced that he has instructed the Treasury Department to cease the production of new pennies, citing the increasing expenses associated with producing the one-cent coin.
“For far too long, the United States has been minting pennies that cost us over two cents to produce. This is simply wasteful!” Trump expressed in a post shared on his Truth Social platform on Sunday night. “I have directed my Secretary of the US Treasury to halt the minting of new pennies.”
This decision marks another rapid initiative by the Trump administration to implement significant changes through executive orders and proclamations, targeting a variety of issues including immigration, diversity, and even the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
While the topic of eliminating the penny was not part of Trump’s campaign discussions, the idea gained traction after a recent post by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency on X, which highlighted the expenses related to the penny’s production.
The U.S. Mint has reported a staggering loss of $85.3 million for the fiscal year 2024, which concluded in September, due to the production of nearly 3.2 billion pennies. The cost of manufacturing each penny has risen to approximately $0.037, up from about $0.031 in the previous year.
Moreover, the mint is also operating at a loss on nickels, with each five-cent coin costing around $0.14 to produce.
It remains uncertain whether Trump possesses the authority to eliminate the penny solely on his own. The specifications of currency, which include details like size and metal content, fall under Congress’s jurisdiction.
However, Robert K. Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, suggested that there may be some flexibility in the process. “Discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is somewhat ambiguous. It probably necessitates congressional action, but the Secretary of the Treasury might have the ability to just stop minting new pennies,” he commented last month.
Over the years, various members of Congress have introduced legislation aimed at the penny. These proposals have included temporary halts on its production, complete elimination from currency circulation, or mandates for prices to be rounded to the nearest five cents, as reported by the Congressional Research Service.
Supporters of abolishing the penny argue for potential savings, quicker transactions at cash registers, and point to several countries that have successfully removed their one-cent coins. Canada, for example, concluded its penny production in 2012.
This would not be the first instance of the U.S. retiring its least valuable coin; Congress discontinued the half-cent coin in 1857.
Trump’s administration is centered on cutting expenses, with Musk taking the lead in targeting various government agencies and workforce segments in pursuit of an ambitious $2 trillion savings goal.
“Let’s eliminate the waste from our nation’s budget, even if it means starting with a penny at a time,” Trump added in his post.
Trump shared this announcement while departing New Orleans, having watched the first half of the Super Bowl.
