President Donald Trump said Sunday that not a single wind turbine would be built in the United States under his administration.
Trump pummeled the green energy source for its inefficiency and risks to the environment, and he pointed out that the market for wind turbines is dominated by one of the United States’ chief geopolitical adversaries, China. He called the wind industry a “con job.”
“The other thing I say to Europe, we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “It’s the most expensive form of energy. It’s no good. They’re made in China, almost all of them.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sat beside the president during his attack on wind energy. Von der Leyen, who is from Germany, has supported wind energy and renewables generally as her country’s energy prices have skyrocketed under its “Energiewende,” an attempt to transition Germany’s power grid from fossil fuels and nuclear energy to renewables.
“In all fairness, Germany tried it, and wind doesn’t work. You need subsidy for wind, and energy should not need subsidy. With energy you make money, you don’t lose money,” said Trump.
.@POTUS spits facts: “We will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States. They’re killing us. They’re killing the beauty of our scenery … It’s the most expensive form of energy. It’s no good. They’re made in China.” pic.twitter.com/5Rv7VDUBDs
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 27, 2025
Trump appeared especially aggravated at wind turbines on Sunday after he played a round of golf at his Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland. He mentioned that he was able to see a cluster of nine turbines from his course that ruined the view.
“You have the same thing all over, all over Europe, in particular. You have windmills all over the place,” said Trump. “Some of the countries prohibit it, but people ought to know that these windmills are very destructive. They’re environmentally unsound.”
The president called environmentalists pushing for widespread adoption of wind energy “hacks.”
Trump’s dislike of wind turbines dates back over a decade when, before his career in politics began, he engaged in a high-profile fight to keep wind turbines from appearing offshore in sight from another of his Scottish golf courses, Trump International Scotland near Aberdeen.
In 2011, Trump in a letter complained to then-Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond about the plans to erect the wind turbines. Trump called the planned project an “ugly cloud … hanging over the future of the great Scottish coastline.”