Key Points
Trump seeks to stop penny production due to high manufacturing costs
Penny production exceeded $179 million in fiscal 2023
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to implement change
President Trump said Sunday that he has instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to "stop producing new pennies."
Trump made his announcement on a Truth Social post after attending the first half of the Super Bowl.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113977224933701762
In his post on 'Truth Social', Trump wrote, "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 nation's budget, even if it's a penny at a time," he said.
On January 22, a post from the official Elon Musk led Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) on social media platform X 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."
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Trump announced that new tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the country would be revealed on Monday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to the NFL Super Bowl on Sunday Trump said that the tariffs from Monday will impose a 25 per cent charge on all steel imports entering the United States, as well as a 25 per cent tariff on aluminium imports.
In his statement, Trump addressed the rationale for these tariffs, saying, "Very simply, if you charge us, we charge them."
"On steel and aluminium tariffs, I'm also going to be announcing steel tariffs on Monday. Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 per cent tariff. Aluminum, too... Twenty-five per cent."
Previously, Trump had threatened to slap a 10 per cent or 20 per cent universal tariff and asked his administration to review that possibility as part of a broader trade review due by April 1.
Trump, who announced that the tariffs would be applicable to every nation, added that the announcement would likely be made on "Monday or Tuesday," Politico reported.
