Trump urges EU leaders to stop building windmills

President Trump told European leaders in Scotland that electric grid wind turbines are “very destructive” and will no longer be built in the United States.

He urged European leaders to “stop the windmills,” because they are ruining their countries.

Mr. Trump made the remarks ahead of a key meeting on tariffs with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“I say two things to Europe. Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries. I really mean it. It’s so sad,” Mr. Trump said Saturday. 

On Sunday, Mr. Trump repeated his plea as he sat with Ms. von der Leyen and other leaders in Scotland ahead of the tariff talks.

“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,” the president said. 

Mr. Trump is a longtime opponent of wind energy. He failed in his bid to block an offshore wind project near his Turnberry Golf Resort in Scotland.

The president said nine windmills can be seen from the resort, where he plans to play on Sunday. 

He’s hoping Europe bans windmills. 

“Today I’m playing the best course, I think, in the world, Turnberry. Even though I own it, it’s probably the best course in the world, right?” Mr. Trump told reporters as he sat among European Union leaders. “And I look over the horizon and I see nine windmills. I said, isn’t that a shame? What a shame you have the same thing all over all over Europe in particular, you have windmills all over the place.”

Wind, and in particular offshore wind, is one of the most expensive ways to provide energy, according to analysts.

Mr. Trump signed an executive order in January prohibiting new wind projects in the United States, although ongoing projects are allowed to continue.

Mr. Trump said the turbines are noisy, harm marine life, kill birds, ruin landscapes and rust after eight years. There is nowhere to safely bury them, he said.

“Germany tried it and wind doesn’t work,” Mr. Trump said. “You need subsidies for wind energy and energy should not need subsidies.”

Many U.S. states and some European countries have turned to wind energy to help achieve a goal of net-zero carbon emissions but wind is intermittent and has not been able to fill the gap in Europe created by closing coal and nuclear power plants. 

Wind supplied more than a quarter of Germany’s electricity in 2023 but it was not enough to power the grid thanks to slower-than-typical wind speeds. A massive increase in output from gas-fired power plants was required to keep the country out of the dark. Electricity prices are higher in Germany than in any other country in Europe.