Heads or Tails? Trump Instructs Treasury to Stop Making Pennies

‘For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,’ President Donald Trump said on Truth Social.

A man shows a handful of the U.S. cent in Washington on July 18, 2006. With the prices of zinc and copper going through the roof, the smallest American denomination is now worth more as a commodity than a currency. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump confirmed over the weekend that he asked the Treasury Department to stop producing pennies.

In a Feb. 9 Truth Social post, the president said he asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt the production of one-cent coins, calling them “wasteful.”