President Donald Trump‘s decision that the U.S. Department of the Treasury will stop minting new pennies could cost jobs in the heavily Republican county they are currently partly produced in, according to a local business figure.

The claim was made on social media by Jeff Taylor, president of the Greene County Partnership, which aims to support local business, on Monday.

Newsweek contacted Artazn LLC, the Greene County Tennessee company that is the sole supplier of blank discs used to make pennies, for comment on Tuesday via email outside of regular office hours.

The United States Mint told Newsweek: “Unfortunately, we currently have no information on legislative affairs.”

Why It Matters

On Sunday night, Trump announced he had told the Treasury Department to stop producing pennies with a post on his Truth Social website, commenting: “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!

“Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”

Currently all pennies are cut from blank sheets of copper lined zinc produced by Artazn LLC, which is situated in a solidly Republican county. Thus any job losses could have negative electoral consequences for the local GOP.

According to Datanyze, Artazn employs over 330 people.

What To Know

In a social media post on Monday, Taylor said: “Save the penny. For those that do not know, every penny starts in Greene County. Save jobs in Greene County!”

Taylor added he had contacted a contact at Artazn asking about the impact of Trump’s decision on jobs at the company, writing: “It’s disappointing to see President Trump make a statement of directive like that because these are American jobs.”

Artazn LLC is based out of Greene County, Tennessee, and produces all the blank metal discs consisting of zinc and copper which are used to make pennies.

In the 2024 fiscal year, the U.S. Mint reported it lost $85.3 million in total on the 3.2 billion pennies it produced.

On its official website Artazn says it is “one of the world’s leading coin blank manufacturers” adding it has made “over 300 billion coin blanks circulating across 20 countries.”

What People Are Saying

Mark Weller, executive director of Americans for Common Cents, argued ending penny production would increase costs for the U.S. Mint.

In a press release, he said: “In fact, such a move would have a significant negative impact on the U.S. Mint’s cost structure. Many overhead expenses at the Mint would remain and would need to be absorbed by other coins, increasing their per-unit costs. Additionally, without the penny, the demand for nickels would rise to fill the gap in small-value transactions.

“Since each nickel costs nearly 14 cents to produce, this shift would drive up overall production expenses for the government. Rather than saving money, eliminating the penny would increase and redistribute financial burdens.”

Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis praised Trump’s move on X, formerly Twitter, commenting: “As well as saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, there are major environmental benefits to eliminating the penny. This is a great move.”

In a statement, Representative David Hawk, a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, commented: “I support ongoing use of United States currency, and the continued use of the penny as part of our currency.

“I equally support Artazn in Greene County as the sold manufacturers of the blanks, from which the pennies are created.”

What Happens Next

Artazn has yet to confirm whether there will be any job losses at the company in response to Trump’s directive. If there are job cuts in response, it could cause tensions between the White House and local Republican lawmakers who want penny production to continue.