The Treasury Department is phasing out penny production by early next year after President Donald Trump ordered the government to halt the “wasteful” minting of the coins.
The Treasury will stop making pennies by early 2026, which will require businesses to start rounding up or down to the nearest five cents, the agency confirmed in a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
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The announcement follows Trump’s directive in early February that ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to end penny production, arguing that the cost to create a penny is higher than the value of the coin itself.
“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. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” the president said in a post to Truth Social.
There has also been a bipartisan push in Congress to end penny production.
Reps. Lisa McClain (R-MI) and Robert Garcia (D-CA), along with Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), introduced the “Common Cents Act” in April, which would also have required the Treasury to stop minting pennies and require cash transactions to be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents.
TRUMP ORDER TREASURY TO STOP ‘WASTEFUL’ PRODUCTION OF PENNIES
“The penny is outdated and inefficient and no longer serves the needs of our economy,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “By suspending its production, we can reduce government spending, streamline transactions, and move toward a more practical financial system. It’s time to invest in a future that works for the 21st-century economy, and that starts with suspending production of the penny.”
Their efforts come after the U.S. Mint’s annual report for fiscal 2024 found that a penny now costs 3.69 cents to make, and its production resulted in a loss of $85 million for the Mint last year.