Mon, 10 Feb 2025

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 No more minting 'wasteful' pennies, Trump tells Treasury

The US President cites rising costs as the reason for discontinuing production of the one cent coin
US President Donald Trump has ordered his Treasury Secretary to stop producing new one-cent coins, also known as pennies. In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump described the move as a cost-cutting measure and stated that "let's rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time". The decision comes after Elon Musk's unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) highlighted the cost of minting pennies. According to the US Mint's 2024 annual report, making and distributing one cent coins costs 3.69 cents. This is not the first time that officials have proposed discontinuing the penny without success. Some countries, such as Canada and the UK, have previously discontinued similar coins due to their high production cost and declining purchasing power.
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