Trump reignites coal energy debate, aims at China competition
"I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL," wrote Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social. The President of the United States sharply criticized his predecessors and aimed at China.
Donald Trump thus confirmed what he had already said during his election campaign about support for the fossil fuel industry.
After years of being held captive by environmental extremists, lunatics, radicals and thugs, while other countries, especially China, have been allowed to gain a huge economic advantage over us by opening hundreds of coal-fired power plants, I am authorizing my administration to immediately start producing energy from beautiful, clean coal - wrote Donald Trump in a post published on Truth Social, his social media platform.
However, he did not provide details, so it is difficult to predict what specific actions the President of the United States implied in his speech after the inauguration. He said that the energy market would be one of the priorities.
- We will drill, baby, drill. The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices - emphasized Trump. - That is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency - he added.
- We have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have – the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we are going to use it. We’re going to use it - announced the President of the United States.
One of his first decisions was withdrawing the USA from the Paris climate agreement. Bloomberg reminds us that during his first term, Trump implemented plans requiring grid operators to purchase electricity from failing coal and nuclear power plants.
Expert: an attempt to build competition against China
Doug Burgum, US Secretary of the Interior, announced last week that the Trump administration is considering resuming operations of closed coal-fired power plants and will not allow additional closures. According to experts, Trump's decisions are driven by rivalry with China.
- It's an attempt to build competition against China. The entire US economic, foreign, and domestic policy is subjected to just that. The more significant threat - political, but mainly economic - seems here is China. Everything happening, including climate protection actions, is organized around that - said Dr. Włodzimierz Batóg from the Center for American Studies at the University of Warsaw.
