U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (not pictured) on the White Home in Washington, U.S., Feb. 7, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
President Donald Trump ordered a halt to the manufacturing of recent pennies, which he stated will assist cut back “wasteful” authorities spending.
“For much too lengthy america has minted pennies which accurately price us greater than 2 cents,” Trump stated in a Fact Social publish. “That is so wasteful! I’ve instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to cease producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our nice nations finances, even when it is a penny at a time,” Trump wrote.
It is not clear whether or not the president has the authority to cease the manufacture of the 1-cent coin. In response to the U.S. Structure, coinage energy, as acknowledged by the Supreme Courtroom, is “unique” to Congress. Federal regulation says the Treasury secretary can mint and subject cash as crucial for the wants of america.
However not less than one analyst on Wall Avenue expects that the penny’s days are numbered. TD Cowen’s Jaret Seiberg stated the halt will possible cross judicial evaluate, resulting in a scarcity of the coin.
“We consider this order would survive judicial evaluate, which is why that is prone to happen,” Seiberg wrote Monday. “We fear about this resulting in a scarcity of pennies, which might pressure retailers to pay banks extra for cash. It additionally provides authorized threat for retailers and banks. That might create the disaster wanted to pressure Congress to behave.”
Seiberg stated he expects this might assist the transfer towards digital funds, bolstering firms similar to Visa, Mastercard and different real-time cost networks.
What is evident is that pennies price extra to make than they’re price. In 2024, the U.S. Mint spent 3.69 cents to fabricate every penny, in response to an annual report. That meant the price of every penny has run above its face worth for a nineteenth straight fiscal 12 months.
The newest U.S. Mint report suggests the nickel higher watch its again, too. Every 5-cent piece prices the Mint 13.78 cents to make.
