Trump orders the treasure to stop the production of coins of a penny

CNN
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The president of the USA, Donald Trump, announced on Sunday that he instructed the Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Besent, to stop the production of coins of a penny, citing the high cost of producing the cents.

“For too long, the United States has coined coins of a penny that literally cost us more than 2 cents. It’s a waste! I have instructed my treasure secretary to stop producing new cents. Let’s start the waste of the budget of our great nation, even if it is a cent every time, ”Trump said in a publication in social networks while returning to Washington of the Super Bowl.

The penny has been criticized for years, and the movement to eliminate it gained strength last month after the Government Efficiency Department of Elon Musk, published in X a call for attention on the high cost of production of the currency of the currency of A cent.

Last year, an article by The New York Times Magazine advocated the abolition of the currency. “The need to abolish the penny has been obvious for those who hold power for so long that the inability to achieve it has transformed the currency into a symbol of deeper rot,” said the article.

CNN previously reported that in 2023 the US House of Currency put about 4.1 billion currencies of a penny. In fiscal year 2024, the institution said in its annual report that producing and distributing the US penny costs about 3.7 cents, more than 20% more than the previous year. The increase in the cost of metals, including zinc and copper, is part of the reason why it is increasingly expensive to manufacture the currency.

In 2013, an opinion article on the Brooking Institution website took things one step further, advocating because the United States would not stop manufacturing the currency of a penny, but also stopped nickel production.

“Perhaps the problem is not that the defenders of the currency have been too bold, but rather too shy: let’s stop manufacturing not only u cent coins, but also five cents coins, and stop using the right decimal ”, Argued the article.