President Donald Trump Announces Effort to Stop Producing New Pennies, in an Effort to "Rip the Waste Out of Our Great Nation's Budget."

On Sunday, Feb. 9, the 78-year-old president revealed on his Truth Social platform that he was taking action against the further minting of the penny

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he has instructed the Treasury Department to stop producing new pennies, in an effort to "rip the waste out of our great nation's budget."

On Truth Social, the 78-year-old president revealed that he was taking action against the further minting of the penny, which the U.S. began producing back in 1787.

"For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents," Trump wrote. "This is so wasteful!"

"I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies," he added, referring to Scott Bessent. "Let's rip the waste out of our great nation[s] budget, even if it's a penny at a time."

The president sent out the message at 9:27 p.m., apparently not long after he attended the first half of the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

His latest penny proclamation follows the Trump-launched temporary Department of Government Efficiency — which is led by multi-billionaire Elon Musk — writing on X last month that the coin "costs over 3 cents to make and cost[s] U.S. taxpayers over $179 million" in the 2023 fiscal year.

As noted by the Associated Press, the U.S. produced 3.2 billion pennies in the 2024 fiscal year, losing $85.3 million in that timeframe.

Per the U.S. Mint's annual report in 2024, the production and distribution of the penny cost roughly 3.69 cents, marking the 19th consecutive fiscal year it has "remained above face value." Similarly, the cost of the nickel was more to produce than its own value, at 13.78 cents.

“The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear," Northeastern University economics professor Robert K. Triest previously said, per the AP. "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.”

The U.S. isn't the first nation to reconsider the single cent. The Royal Canadian Mint previously announced it would no longer be distributing its own pennies in 2012, citing a “burden to the economy," per CNN.

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The latest social media statement from Trump comes amid a variety of promises and executive orders signed by the president since he kicked off his second term on Jan. 20. In addition to attempts to end birthright citizenship and pardon the roughly 1,500 people convicted over of their roles in the 2021 Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Trump has also tried to make changes to specific long-standing institutions in the U.S. such as the Kennedy Center.

On Friday, he wrote on Truth Social that he intended to terminate current officials and replace the board's chairman with himself, in an effort to make the cultural center "great again." In response that night, the Kennedy Center revealed that it had "received no official communications from the White House" regarding Trump's declared changes.