President Trump on Friday criticized the United Kingdom’s energy policy, pushing the British government to do away with “costly and unsightly” windmills and drill for more oil in the North Sea.
“Our negotiated deal with the United Kingdom is working out well for all. I strongly recommend to them, however, that in order to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“A century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub. The old fashioned tax system disincentivizes drilling, rather than the opposite. U.K.’s Energy Costs would go WAY DOWN, and fast!” the president said.
Trump returned to the Oval Office with plans to “drill, baby, drill” and had said on the campaign trail that he aimed to “have a policy where no windmills are being built.” He’s since made moves to roll back Biden-era renewable energy policies and hasten fossil fuel development — and his efforts to hold up wind energy development have drawn legal challenges.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, on the other hand, has championed renewable energy and a net-zero agenda. The government has planned to double onshore wind and quadruple offshore wind by 2030, according to WindEurope, in pursuit of low-carbon goals.
Trump’s call for Britain to embrace drilling comes after the U.S. and U.K. signed a trade deal earlier this month, the first country-specific agreement since the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff hikes in early April.
The deal, which had been in the works for some time, included billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports.
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