Sunrun, Enphase, First Solar Stocks Tumble After Trump Calls Wind, Solar Power ‘Stupid’ And ‘Ugly’

Solar stocks and shares of other renewable energy companies plummeted in Tuesday’s mid-day trade after President Donald Trump called wind and solar power “stupid” and “ugly.”

Trump made the remarks about new energy sources during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

Sunrun shares were down nearly 13% at the time of writing, while Enphase Energy and FirstSolar shares declined more than 5%. NextEra Energy’s shares were down over 3%.

Talking about wind energy, President Trump called the source “tremendously expensive and it can be only done with subsidies.”

He called windmills “stupid” and cited a businessman from the sector, who said that he “hates” it because it’s the only energy business that needs subsidies, while ignoring the $757 billion in fossil fuel subsidies given by the U.S. government in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Trump also attacked solar energy while answering a reporter’s question.

“Those big solar fields, they’re taking our farmland. Our farmers are mortified by it, they hate it,” he said. ”It’s very very inefficient and very ugly, too.”

He lamented solar fields and called them “black plastic” from China, while adding that the Xi Jinping-led government has expanded its coal-based plants.

“We don’t want wind, we don’t want solar, because they’re a blight on our country,” the President added. 

This comes after the Trump administration said it would enforce the termination of tax incentives earlier than expected.

Meanwhile, U.S. equities remained on the edge on Tuesday as Wall Street digests President Trump slapping 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea.

At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.06%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) edged up by 0.1%. Stocktwits data shows retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF has been in the ‘neutral’ territory over the past week.

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Also See: Trump Says EU Trade Deal ‘Two Days Off’, Predicts $300B In Tariff Revenue By Year-End