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Donald Trump asks Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, ‘Let's rip the waste out’
Donald Trump has said that he has ordered the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the increasing cost of producing the one-cent coin.
Donald Trump has said that he has ordered the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the increasing cost of producing the one-cent coin. This is Trump’s latest move amid a sort of rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact various drastic changes, including in issues like immigration, gender and diversity.
‘Let's rip the waste out’
In a Truth Social post, the US president wrote, “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. 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 nations budget, even if it's a penny at a time.”
Trump had not revealed his plans or expressed his desire to eliminate the penny while on his campaign. However, last month, Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency did raise the prospect in an X post last month. “The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023,” the post read. “The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced. Penny (or 3 cents!) for your thoughts.”
It remains unclear whether Trump has the power to unilaterally eliminate the lowly one-cent coin as Congress dictates currency specifications, including the size and metal content of coins. Last month, Robert K. Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, addressed the matter, saying, according to Yahoo, “The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear. It would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies.”
Congress members have time and again introduced legislation that took aim at the zinc coin with copper plating. Over the years, proposals have been made to temporarily suspend the penny’s production or eliminate it from circulation, according to the Congressional Research Service. It had also been suggested that prices be rounded to the nearest five cents.
According to proponents of eliminating the coin, the reasons include cost savings and speedier checkouts at cash registers. They have also cited the fact that several other countries have eliminated their one-cent coins, including Canada, which stopped minting its penny back in 2012.
