Trump blasts UK energy policy and ‘windmills’ after company blames windfall tax for less drilling

President-elect Trump is criticizing the United Kingdom’s energy policy and saying it should get rid of windmills after a company blamed the country’s windfall tax for its early exit from drilling in Europe’s North Sea.

In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump wrote, “The U.K. is making a very big mistake. Open up the North Sea. Get rid of Windmills.”

He included a link to a November article about oil company Apache’s planned early exit from drilling in the North Sea. 

The article quotes an executive of the Texas company as blaming the U.K.’s Energy Profits Levy, also known as a windfall tax, for its departure “well ahead of what would have been an otherwise reasonable time frame." The levy imposes an additional tax on the profits of companies extracting U.K. oil and gas.

Trump has embraced domestic oil and gas production and made it a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He has also repeatedly criticized wind energy. 

The Hill has reached out to the British embassy for comment.