President Donald Trump is once again criticizing wind energy, and this time he’s turning his attention to China.
During recent appearances, including a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Jan. 21, Trump claimed that while China makes most of the world’s wind turbines, it doesn’t actually use them.
“Yet I haven’t been able to find any windfarms in China,” Trump said, continuing his longstanding practice of referring to turbines as “windmills.”
He added, “They sell them to the stupid people that buy them, but don’t use them themselves.”
That claim has been quickly and widely debunked by both energy analysts and Chinese officials.
In fact, not only does China have wind farms, but it also leads the world in wind energy production by a wide margin.
China has more than 7,000 wind turbines in operation and is responsible for 48% of the world’s total wind power production.
China Leads the World in Wind Power
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), China added 76 gigawatts of wind capacity in 2024 alone.
According to Forbes, the country now has a total of 561 gigawatts of installed wind power, more than three times the amount in the United States.
That gives China roughly 48% of the world’s wind generation capacity.
Forbes reports that one of China’s most well-known wind projects is the Gansu Wind Farm, also known as the Jiuquan Wind Power Base, located in the desert region of western Gansu province, also known as the Jiuquan Wind Power Base, located in the desert region of western Gansu province.
Construction started in 2009, and the project already features more than 7,000 turbines.
Once completed, it’s expected to produce 20 GW of power, enough to supply electricity to about 15 million homes.
China’s wind and solar energy development continues to break records.
According to Euronews, in April 2025, wind and solar combined provided 26% of China’s electricity, up from a previous record of 23.7% in March 2025.
Meanwhile, fossil fuel generation fell 3.6% year-over-year during the first four months of 2025.
Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, responded directly to Trump’s remarks.
“China’s efforts to tackle climate change and promote the development and application of renewable energy in the world are obvious to all,” he said during a Jan. 22 press conference.
Wind Energy Is a Global Priority
Despite Trump’s repeated dismissal of wind energy as “the scam of the century,” major global companies and countries continue to invest heavily in it.
Wind currently generates about 10% of the world’s electricity, and the EIA projects that share will grow to 15% by 2030.
In Europe, wind provides 20% of total electricity generation, while the U.S. gets about 12% of its power from wind.
China, with its massive population and energy needs, still generates nearly 10% of its electricity from wind, but its overall capacity and infrastructure outpace any other country.
Trump’s comments came during a meeting with oil executives and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, where the administration reportedly discussed investing up to $100 billion in Venezuelan oil fields.
Ironically, one of the executives in the room was Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, a company that partners with China’s national oil company to use wind energy in offshore operations.
ConocoPhillips works with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation to provide wind power to the Penglai Oilfield in Bohai Bay, using turbines to reduce the carbon footprint of its drilling activities.
Other companies at the meeting, including Shell, Eni, and Repsol, have all invested billions in wind energy worldwide.
The Bigger Picture
While Trump continues to question the value of renewables and downplays China’s green energy progress, the data tells a different story.
China isn’t just building turbines for export, it’s using them at scale.
The country has made huge investments in wind and solar as part of its broader strategy to shift toward cleaner energy sources.
According to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, China is now in a “relative decoupling” phase, where emissions are growing more slowly than GDP.
This marks a turning point for a country long reliant on coal. Between 2015 and 2023, China’s consumption-based emissions rose 24%, while GDP jumped over 50%.
There are early signs that emissions from the power generation and transport sectors may have already peaked.
Meanwhile, China is building 180 GW of solar and 159 GW of wind projects, nearly double the capacity under construction in the rest of the world combined.
For now, Trump’s claims about wind energy in China are at odds with verified data and the global energy reality.
Whether or not he “can find” China’s wind farms, they exist, and they’re producing nearly half of the planet’s wind power.
IMAGE CREDIT: “President Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Image adjusted for layout.