Fact Check: Is Trump’s claim at Davos that China has no wind farms true?

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND: President Donald Trump, in his speech in Davos, remarked on a wide range of topics that drew global attention. Among the remarks, he made a pointed comment about China’s use of wind energy, claiming that the Asian country has no wind farms. The claim has sparked speculations. Let is fact check the truth behind the claim.

Claim: Donald Trump says China has no wind farms

In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, January 21, Trump said, “China is smart. They make windmills, sell 'em for a fortune, and sell them to the stupid people that buy them!" 

"Windmills all over Europe, all over the place, and they are losers. One thing I've learned: the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses. China makes almost all the windmills, and yet I haven't been able to find any wind farms in China."

Fact Check: Donald Trump's claims are false

China has one of the largest wind farms in the world at Gansu, which can be seen from space. According to Our World in Data, China generates more wind energy than any other country. 

Its statistics show that in 2024, China generated 997 terawatt-hours from wind. That was more than double that of the US, which was in second place.

According to a report from the Global Wind Energy Council, China’s installations of windmills in 2024 made up 70% of the global total, and the cumulative electricity capacity was more than 520 GW, accounting for almost 50% of the total global wind power installed capacity.

Donald Trump's similar claim about China's windmills

Earlier, on January 9, Trump made a similar false claim as he hosted energy executives at the White House to encourage investment in Venezuela's oil industry. 

He repeated his disdain for 'windmills,' falsely claiming China mostly exports the turbines it makes and has few, if any, domestic wind energy operations. 

"Just about all of the windmills are made in China -- the structures," Trump said. "All you have to do is say to China: 'How many windmill areas do you have in China?' So far, they are not able to find any," he claimed.

"They make them and sell them to suckers like Europe. And suckers like the United States before. They are the worst form of energy," the US president concluded.

But the truth is that China is the world's leading wind energy producer, and its turbine manufacturing is largely focused on domestic demand.