Trump tells Treasury secretary 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 wrote on TRUTH Social.

Published: February 10, 2025 7:44am

Updated: February 10, 2025 7:48am

President Donald Trump said Sunday night he's told the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to stop making new pennies, as part of his plan to cut back on government spending that he considers wasteful.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies."

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk criticized the cost of producing pennies last month.

"The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023," a post on DOGE's X account reads. "The Mint produced over 4.5 billion pennies in FY2023, around 40% of the 11.4 billion coins for circulation produced."

"Let's rip the waste out of our great nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time," Trump's TRUTH Social post concluded.