President Donald Trump made a bold and misleading statement about wind energy, claiming he had never seen a wind farm in China and asking someone to look into it. That prompted a lot of people to fact-check him, and what they found strongly contradicted his claim.
Trump said that many wind turbine parts come from China, and then questioned whether China even uses wind turbines at all. But the truth is very different. China is actually the world leader in wind energy. It has over three times more wind energy capacity than the United States.
One of the biggest wind farms in the world — the Gansu Wind Farm is located in China and has over 7,000 turbines. There are currently at least 138 operational wind farms in the country, including many offshore wind farms.
Trump has long been opposed to renewable energy, especially wind power. He’s called it fake and useless, largely because of a personal fight he had over a wind farm built near one of his golf resorts. Now, with a new bill he supports, tax benefits for wind and solar energy could be eliminated, which might severely harm the industry. Experts estimate this bill could stop more than half of all upcoming solar and wind projects in the country.
Unions have criticized the move, calling it a huge blow to jobs in the renewable energy sector. They believe it’s a political decision that sacrifices important infrastructure and the future of clean energy for narrow ideological reasons.
Columnist Thomas Friedman said that China must be thrilled to see the U.S. shooting itself in the foot. At a time when artificial intelligence and technology demand more electricity than ever, the U.S. government is actively weakening its ability to create clean power, he said.
Many people responded online by pointing out that Trump’s statement about never seeing wind farms in China is just flat-out wrong. They posted links and facts showing that China is not only using wind power but leading the world in it. Some even joked that Trump isn’t interested in the truth — he only sees what fits his narrative.
In short, while Trump tries to paint wind power as ineffective and underused — especially in countries like China — the facts say otherwise. China is investing heavily in wind and solar energy, while the U.S. under Trump’s influence is at risk of falling behind.
