President Trump claims he instructed the US Treasury to stop production of penny and call a penny in vain.
Trump announced his actions in the Truth Social Post Sunday night.
“For a long time, the US has been minting pennies, and it costs literally more than two cents. This is a waste! I have told the US Treasury secretary to stop producing new pennies. Let’s tear waste from our great nation. [sic] The budget is even if it’s a penny at once,” Trump said.
The cost of making penny was nearly 3.7 cents in 2024, according to the US Mint annual report.
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Penny was made from copper before 1962 and is now made from most of zinc, but is copper-plated. Lincoln has been in Penny since 1909, according to the Treasury Department.
Elon Musk, a billionaire tech entrepreneur who has been tasked with cutting waste in the US by Trump, targeted Penny in a post last month on X.
“Pennies will cost more than three cents to produce and spend more than $179 million taxpayers in 2023. Mint produced more than 4.5 billion pennies in 2023, and for circulation It produced about 40% of the 11.4 billion coins. Musk’s Government Efficiency (DOGE) said:
It is unclear whether Trump has the power to unilaterally eliminate coins that are as low as one-cent. The currency specifications including the size of the coin and the metal content will be determined by the Congress.
But Robert K. Triest, a professor of economics at Northeastern University, argues that there may be some room for wiggling.
“The process of canceling penny in the US is a bit unknown. It is likely that Congressional acts will be required, but the Treasury Secretary may simply be able to stop the casting of new penny,” he said last month. .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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