President says minting of low-denomination one-cent coins costs more than their face value, echoing Elon Musk

Donald Trump has ordered the US treasury to stop minting new pennies, calling the coins’ production “wasteful”.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” the president said in a Truth Social post on Sunday night as he left the Super Bowl in New Orleans. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”