Has Donald Trump stopped the production of pennies? US President calls on Treasury to stop producing - after Elon Musk's DOGE team raised prospect

Mr Trump wrote in a post on Sunday night (9 February) on his Truth Social site: “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.”

Mr Trump’s new administration has been sharply focused on cutting costs, targeting entire agencies and large swaths of the federal workforce for dismissal. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” he wrote.

Mr Trump sent the message after attending the first half of the Super Bowl in New Orleans. Trump had not discussed his desire to eliminate the penny during his campaign. But Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) raised the prospect in a post on X last month highlighting the penny’s cost.

It said: “The penny costs over 3 cents to make and cost US taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023. 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 wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. eliminated its least valuable coin. The half-cent coin was discontinued by Congress in 1857. Trump’s new administration has been sharply focused on cutting costs, with Musk, who has been brought on to lead the task, targeting entire agencies and large swaths of the federal workforce as he tries to identify a goal of $2 trillion in savings.