Trump took the stage at the UN General Assembly on September 23 and unleashed a torrent of falsehoods, dismissing climate change as "the global warming hoax". In a particularly bizarre rant, he alleged that China, despite manufacturing vast amounts of wind power equipment, "barely use[s] them."
The nearly hour-long tirade triggered an international outcry, with US media scrambling to correct the record. While Trump's crusade against green energy is nothing new, his decision to spout such blatant nonsense on a global stage left many stunned.
CNN: Trump's UN speech riddled with falsehoods.
A Tirade Against Renewables
During his speech, Trump bragged about America's "now thriving like never before" in the energy sector under his leadership, claiming he was "getting rid of the falsely named renewables." He dismissed renewables as "a joke”: “They don’t work. They are too expensive. They are not strong enough to fire up plants you need to make your country great.” As a final, simplistic jab, he added, “The wind doesn’t blow (all the time).”
This wasn't the first time Trump has peddled the lie that China avoids its own wind power. He doubled down on this falsehood at the UN, insisting that while China is a top producer of wind technology, it only exports it while shunning it at home. "You know, they use coal, they use gas, they use almost anything, but they don’t like wind," Trump claimed, "But they sure as hell like selling the windmills."
Not stopping there, Trump went on to smear wind turbines as shoddy, poor-performing machines with outrageous operating costs. According to him, the "big windmills are so pathetic and so bad, so expensive to operate. And they have to be rebuilt all the time and they start to rust and rot."
He concluded that with this energy, "You're supposed to make money with energy, not lose money. If you lose money, the governments have to subsidize. You can't put them out without massive subsidies.
The Facts Tell a Different Story
The reality, as reported by CNN, paints a completely different picture. In reality, China “has massive wind farms onshore and offshore” and “continues to install additional wind capacity much faster than the US.”
Citing data from China's National Energy Administration, the report noted that in 2024, “Wind power capacity touched 520 GW, the administration said, up 18% from a year earlier.”
The New York Times also dismantled Trump's narrative, highlighting that his claims are the complete opposite of reality. China is the undisputed global leader in both the number of existing wind farms and total installed capacity. Furthermore, China has more wind farms in the pipeline than any other nation on Earth.
"Recharge", a Norwegian renewable energy news outlet, slammed Trump's speech as a “typically rambling speech” and a “typically fact-free tirade”. The publication pointed out his consistent denial of climate change and his renewed attack on wind power, including the baseless accusation that China exports wind turbines while hardly using them at home.
China's Dominance by the Numbers
The facts speak for themselves. China’s newly installed wind power capacity shattered records last year. Data from China’s National Energy Administration confirmed that by 2024, the nation's total installed capacity for wind power reached around 520 million kilowatts, an 18.0% jump from the previous year.
According to the World Wind Energy Association, a German non-profit, China's installed wind power capacity makes up nearly half of the entire world's total. The organization's figures show China contributing 561,000 megawatts to the global total of 1.2 million megawatts.
Further data from the Global Energy Monitor, a California-based non-profit, reinforces this point. Of the 17,000 wind farms operating globally, China owns 5,400—almost a third. Looking ahead, China is also set to build 2,800 of the 8,600 wind farms planned worldwide.
Fact check: China's wind power capacity dwarfs that of the US.
Trump's War on Green Energy
Trump's anti-wind crusade is a long-running affair. During his first term, he spread absurd rumors that wind power lowers property values, "kills birds," and even that turbine noise causes cancer. Since his return to the White House, his assault on renewables has only escalated. He has put a "ban" on offshore wind, suspending new leases and even stopping approved projects in New York, a move that analysts say will cripple the US offshore wind pipeline.
Back at the UN, Trump didn't just target wind power; he went after the entire concept of climate change, labeling it "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world". He baselessly asserted that the scientific consensus on global warming was a conspiracy by "stupid people" and berated countries, including America's own allies, for embracing renewable energy. He also voiced his opposition to international climate agreements designed to limit temperature increases and phase out fossil fuels.
The Fallout
In the aftermath, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers offered a weak defense, claiming that "Whether it’s called global cooling, global warming, or climate change, the radical climate agenda continues to destroy many great countries around the world."
But the criticism was swift. Gina McCarthy, a former top climate official under Biden, slammed Trump in a statement. She pointed out that climate change is already causing more severe and frequent disasters across the US, and Trump is abdicating the government's duty to protect its citizens. "Trump continues to embarrass the U.S. on the global stage and undermine the interests of Americans at home," she concluded.
To add another layer of fact-checking, CNN also debunked the notion that the U.S. ever spent or committed $1 trillion to the Paris Climate Agreement. Citing official documents, CNN stated that “The U.S. has never spent or committed anywhere close to $1 trillion in connection to the accord; Biden pledged upon taking office to pay $11.4 billion per year toward international climate financing, but Congress appropriated less than even that”.
Deep Throat
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