U.S. President Donald Trump instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Baesert on the 9th (local time) to stop producing 1-cent coins (pennies), according to reports from AP News and others. The reason is that the cost of producing 1-cent coins exceeds their value, making it a case of the tail wagging the dog.
On the same day, President Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social, "The United States has literally been minting pennies that cost more than 2 cents for far too long. This is truly wasteful!" He added, "I have instructed the U.S. Treasury Secretary to stop producing new pennies." He further stated, "Let's reduce budget waste in a great nation, even if it's just by one penny at a time."
There have been multiple calls within the U.S. to eliminate the penny. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also pointed out last month on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that producing a penny costs more than 3 cents, resulting in a burden of $179 million on American taxpayers during the 2023 fiscal year.
Last year, The New York Times (NYT) also published articles advocating for the abolition of the penny.
According to the U.S. Mint, 3.2 billion pennies were produced in the 2024 fiscal year, resulting in a loss of approximately $85.3 million. The cost to mint a penny rose from $0.031 in the previous year to $0.037. Producing a 5-cent coin (nickel) costs about $0.14 per coin.
Robert K. Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, stated, "The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is somewhat unclear," adding that congressional action may be necessary, but the Treasury Secretary could simply stop issuing new pennies.
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