President Donald Trump said he has ordered the US Treasury Department to stop issuing 1-cent coins due to the high cost of minting them.
“For too long, the United States has been minting cents that literally cost us more than 2 cents each. This is so wasteful! I have instructed US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant to stop issuing new cents,“ the president wrote on the social network Truth Social. He once again drew attention to the need to stop the wasteful spending of budget funds in the United States.
The US Government Efficiency Agency, headed by American entrepreneur Elon Musk, announced on the social network X on January 21 that the issuance of one 1-cent coin “costs more than 3 cents“. In the fiscal year 2023, the country minted more than 4.5 billion such coins, the agency specified. This cost American taxpayers 179 million USD.
The new administration in Washington previously took a number of measures aimed at reducing federal budget spending. Trump appointed Musk to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - an agency tasked with improving the efficiency of the US government, reducing the bloated state apparatus and combating bureaucracy. The president noted that DOGE “will provide external advice and guidance” while working with the White House.
On January 24, the new agency announced that in its first 80 hours of operation, it had canceled about $420 million in government contracts deemed unnecessary, and expects to reduce U.S. government spending by $2 trillion.