President Donald Trump revealed on Sunday night via his Truth Social platform that he has directed the Secretary of the Treasury to cease the minting of new pennies. This decision follows concerns over the rising production costs, which have exceeded the penny’s value for nearly two decades.
In his post, Trump remarked that the U.S. has been producing pennies that “literally cost us more than 2 cents” for “far too long” and decried it as “so wasteful!”
He went on to explain that he had instructed “my Secretary of the US Treasury” to halt the coin’s production, framing the decision as an effort to reduce waste within the nation’s budget, saying it was a move to tackle inefficiency “even if it’s a penny at a time.”
This announcement comes shortly after the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, highlighted the growing expense of penny production in a post on X.
According to the U.S. Mint’s 2024 annual report, it costs 3.69 cents to make each penny, a cost more than three times the value of the coin itself. The Mint also confirmed that the price of producing the one-cent coin has “remained above face value for the 19th consecutive fiscal year.”