作为他计划的一部分削减所谓的联邦政府浪费美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)简直是在精打细算，命令他的财政部长停止美国造币厂生产新的1美分硬币。
特朗普周日在他的真实社交平台上宣布，铸造美国第16任总统亚伯拉罕·林肯头像的硬币的成本是硬币面值的两倍多。
“美国铸造便士的时间太长了，它实际上花费了我们2美分以上。这太浪费了!”特朗普写道。“我已经指示我的财政部长停止生产新的便士。让我们把浪费从我们伟大国家的预算中剥离出来，哪怕是一次一便士。”
根据美国铸币局的数据，近年来，生产一便士的成本增加了一倍多，从2020年的1.76美分增加到2024年的3.69美分。
印刷一美元纸币比生产一便士要便宜，根据美国铸币局的数据，一便士由97.5%的锌和2.5%的铜组成，需要一个熔炼过程来铸造金属。根据美联储财政部雕刻和印刷局印刷一张1美元钞票的成本是3.2美分，比铸造一便士的成本还低。
根据造币厂的数据，美国造币厂报告称，2024财年在制造便士上损失了8530万美元年度报告敬国会。
合法吗?
目前尚不清楚特朗普是否有权力让这枚硬币退役，这枚硬币作为美国的一部分已经有233年了，116年了，上面印有林肯的肖像。
此举可能需要国会的批准。尽管它是美国财政部的一部分，“国会授权美国造币厂制造的每一枚硬币和大多数奖牌，并在其公共企业基金下监督造币厂的运作，”根据美国铸币局网站.
然而，哈佛法学院卡尔·m·勒布大学宪法学荣誉退休教授劳伦斯·h·特部落告诉《经济学人》美联社那件事美国法典这是一份通用和永久联邦法规的清单，赋予特朗普的财政部长斯科特·贝森特(Scott Bessent)废除便士的权力。
虽然法院和其他人在辩论特朗普的许多行政命令是否符合法律规定，但“在我看来，这一行动完全合法，完全符合宪法，”特部落说。
如果特朗普如愿以偿，便士将成为第12种被淘汰的美国货币面额，加入半分硬币、2分硬币、20分硬币和“三分硬币”(1851年至1873年发行的三分银币)，科罗拉多州科罗拉多斯普林斯货币博物馆的助理馆长卡罗琳·特科告诉美国广播公司新闻。
“我们出于多种不同的原因让它们退役，但通常是因为它们没有被使用，或者它们的生产成本太高，”图尔科说。
这是个好主意吗?
马克·韦勒(Mark Weller)是华盛顿特区一个为国会和行政部门提供一便士好处研究的组织“美国人共同美分”(Americans for Common Cents)的执行董事。他告诉美国广播公司新闻，他认为消除硬币“是一个绝对可怕的想法。”
“这对消费者和经济都不利。事实上，这真的不会省钱，但它会增加政府损失，并产生一些意想不到的经济后果，”韦勒说。
韦勒向美国广播公司新闻透露，他也是各行业公司的说客，包括田纳西州的锌产品制造商Artazn，其中一些产品用于制造便士。韦勒表示，废除便士将促使美国造币厂增加镍的产量。根据美国铸币局的数据，铸造一枚镍币的成本接近14美分，几乎是硬币面值的三倍，是铸造一枚硬币成本的三倍半以上。
“没有一分钱，镍产量可能会增加近一倍，这将增加造币厂的损失，”韦勒说。“所以，很难理解你怎么能生产出比一美分硬币损失更多的五美分硬币，并说你会省钱。”
韦勒进一步表示，放弃一分钱可能会导致美国消费者的商品成本上升。
“如果说大多数经济学家都认同一件事，那就是私营企业有盈利动机。所以，假设他们会以向上取整而不是向下取整的方式来定价，”韦勒说。
虽然数字支付越来越普遍，但韦勒表示，现金仍然是一个至关重要的工具，“特别是对于经济上服务不足和银行服务不足的人来说。”
韦勒说:“大多数美国人希望保留一分钱。”"很多人厌恶四舍五入交易的想法."
根据造币厂向国会提交的年度报告，美国造币厂在2024财年生产了32亿枚便士，目前流通的硬币估计有2500亿枚。
便士的历史
Turco的博物馆是美国钱币协会的教育分支，他告诉ABC新闻，关于一分钱的一个大误解是，从技术上讲，它从来没有在美国存在过。
“美国的体系没有一分钱。”“这是一个误称，”特科说。我们有一分钱，因为当我们反抗英国人时，他们有便士，这是一个英国词。"
图尔科说，1美分硬币于1793年在美国首次生产，最初是今天25美分硬币的大小。
图尔科说，林肯的肖像也出现在5美元的钞票上，是在1909年被添加到硬币上的。
特科说，如果特朗普的愿望得到满足，美国不会是第一个废除硬币的国家。例如，加拿大决定在2012年逐步淘汰便士。在美国，国防部于1980年停止在其海外基地使用分币，因为运送它们太贵了。
不管一分钱的命运如何，特科说，她相信它将永远是美国的一部分，至少在口语中是这样，她补充说，像“幸运的一分钱”和“省一便士就是赚一便士”这样的短语可能永远是美国词汇的一部分。或许具有讽刺意味的是，如果停止使用，这种硬币的价值可能会增加。
“我认为收藏家仍然会喜欢拥有它们，”图尔科说。“但我不认为一分钱的价值会在一夜之间飙升。”
Trump's order to scrap the penny doesn't make 'cents': Expert
As part of his plan tocut alleged federal government waste, President Donald Trump is literally pinching pennies, ordering his Treasury Secretary to stop the U.S. Mint from producing new 1-cent coins.
In an announcement Sunday on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the cost of minting the coin featuring the profile of the country's 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, is more than twice the currency's face value.
"For far too long the United States has minted pennies, which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is wasteful!" Trump wrote. "I have instructed my Secretary of 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."
According to the U.S. Mint, the cost of producing a single penny has more than doubled in recent years, from 1.76 cents in 2020 to 3.69 cents in 2024.
Printing a paper $1 bill is cheaper than producing a penny, which, according to the U.S. Mint, is comprised of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper and requires a smelting process to mold the metals. According to theFederal Reserve, it costs Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing 3.2 cents to print a $1 note – less than the cost of minting a penny.
The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million on making pennies in fiscal year 2024, according to the Mint'sannual reportto Congress.
Is it legal?
It remains unclear if Trump has the power to retire the coin, which has been part of the fabric of America for 233 years, 116 years with Lincoln's portrait embossed on it.
The move would likely require the approval of Congress. Even though it's part of the U.S. Treasury, "Congress authorizes every coin and most medals that the U.S. Mint manufactures and oversees the Mint's operations under its Public Enterprise Fund," according to theU.S. Mint's website.
However, Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School, told theAssociated Pressthat theU.S. Code, a list of general and permanent federal statues, gives Trump's Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, the authority to scrap the penny.
While the courts and others debate whether many of Trump's executive orders pass legal muster, "this action seems to me entirely lawful and fully constitutional," Tribe said.
If Trump gets his way, the penny will become the 12th U.S. currency denomination to be retired, joining the half-cent coin, the 2-cent coin, the 20-cent piece and the "trime" – a silver three-cent piece issued from 1851 to 1873, Caroline Turco, assistant curator of the Money Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told ABC News.
"We retired them for multiple different reasons, but normally because they were not being used or they just became too expensive to produce," said Turco.
Is it a good idea?
Mark Weller is executive director of Americans for Common Cents, a Washington, D.C., organization that provides research to Congress and the executive branch on the benefits of the penny. He told ABC News that he believes eliminating the coin "is an absolutely horrible idea."
"It would be bad for consumers and it would be bad for the economy. It really would, in fact, not save money, but it would increase government losses and have some unintended economic consequences," Weller said.
Weller – who disclosed to ABC News that he is also a lobbyist for companies in various industries, including Artazn, a Tennessee-based manufacturer of zinc products, some of which are used in making pennies – said doing away with the penny would prompt the U.S. Mint to increase production of the nickel. According to the U.S. Mint, the cost of minting a single nickel is nearly 14 cents, almost three times the coin's face value and more than three-and-a-half times the cost of minting a penny.
"Without the penny, nickel production could nearly double, which would increase the Mint's losses," Weller said. "So, it's just hard to understand how you could produce more nickels that are losing more money than the penny and say you're going to save money."
Weller further said that ditching the penny could lead to the cost of goods going up for American consumers.
"If there's one thing most economists agree on is that private business has a profit motive. So, the assumption would be that they would price things in a way that they would round up, not round down," Weller said.
Although digital payments are increasingly more common, Weller said cash remains a crucial tool, "especially for someone economically underserved and under-banked."
"The majority of Americans want to keep the penny," Weller said. "A very large number abhor the idea of rounding transactions."
The U.S. Mint produced 3.2 billion pennies in fiscal year 2024, according to the Mint's annual report to Congress, with an estimated 250 billion pennies currently in circulation.
History of the penny
Turco, whose museum is the education branch of the American Numismatic Association, told ABC News that one big misconception about the penny is that, technically, it has never existed in the United States.
"The American system does not have a 'penny.' That is a misnomer," Turco said. "We have a cent because when we rebelled against the British they had pennies and that is a British word."
Turco said the 1-cent piece was first produced in the United States in 1793 and was originally the size of the present-day quarter.
Turco said Lincoln, whose likeness is also on the $5 bill, was added to the coin in 1909.
If Trump's wishes are met, the United States wouldn't be the first country to eliminate the coin, Turco said. Canada, for example, decided to phase out its penny in 2012. In the U.S., the Department of Defense stopped using pennies at its overseas bases in 1980 because it became too expensive to ship them.
Regardless of the penny's fate, Turco said she believes it will always be a part of the United States, at least colloquially, adding that such phrases as "a lucky penny" and "a penny saved is a penny earned" will likely always be a part of the American lexicon. And, perhaps ironically, the penny's value could increase if its discontinued.
"I think collectors will still enjoy having them," Turco said. "But I don't think that the value of a penny will just skyrocket overnight."
