President Donald Trump’s mission to slash federal spending has taken an odd turn as he revealed that the Treasury has been instructed to stop minting pennies.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday night, he claimed that it cost more to produce the one-cent coin than it was worth.
“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” he said. “This is so wasteful!”
“I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”
In fact, Trump underestimated the cost of making a penny as the United States Mint revealed that it took nearly 3.7 cents to produce a penny in 2024 and that the coin has cost above face value to make for 19 consecutive fiscal years.
The unofficial Department of Government Efficiency, which is headed by Elon Musk, drew attention to the cost of making pennies in late January as it highlighted statistics showing an uptick in its production.
Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis pointed out that Trump might struggle to force the decision through.
In a post on X, Dennis pointed to a line in the Constitution stating that only Congress has the power to make such a decision.
But Trump is not the first president to have attempted to meddle with the U.S Mint’s affairs.
In 2012, then-President Barack Obama stepped in and asked Congress to allow a change in the mix of metals in coins as he hoped to push costs down.
A former federal reserve chairman, Paul Volcker, has also previously backed the elimination of pennies.
Resources on U.S government websites explain why pennies are important.
“Some penny supporters believe that we should keep the penny out of respect to our country’s history and 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, who was the first person to appear on a U.S. coin and whose portrait has been on the penny since 1909,” a document on Illinois State Treasurer’s website says.
“Those who favor keeping the penny believe the penny plays an important role in keeping down the costs of the goods and services we buy. If there were no pennies, stores and restaurants would round up to the nearest nickel,” it also says.
Trump’s latest demand follows a string of random policy announcements in the last weeks which have included reversing a ban on plastic straws, freezing aid to South Africa over land law, and proposals to build a real estate magnate’s paradise in Gaza.
