As the Super Bowl entered the fourth quarter on Sunday, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement—bringing an end to the production of the penny.
The copper-colored, Lincoln-embossed coin, larger than a dime but worth only one-tenth as much, will no longer be minted by the U.S. Treasury. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has been tasked with implementing the change.
“For far too long, the United States has minted pennies that literally cost us more than two cents each,” Trump stated. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the 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.”
In the Oval Office, behind the Resolute Desk, sits a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln resembling the iconic penny portrait—a subtle nod to the coin’s long history.
The push to eliminate pennies has been debated for decades, but no president had taken action—until now. Canada made a similar move in 2012, citing the same economic inefficiencies. In the U.S., the cost of minting pennies has consistently exceeded their face value, prompting economists and lawmakers to call for their removal.
In 2013,