Trump urges U.S. communities to embrace data centers, warns China benefits from opposition
Trump defends data center expansion in a Truth Social post, arguing that local resistance threatens jobs and lower taxes while pleasing China.
WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald Trump urged American communities to welcome Data Centers, arguing that local opposition would leave them “backwards and poor” and hand an advantage to China.
Trump framed the facilities as a source of jobs and lower taxes in a truthsocial post, casting resistance to their construction as an economic mistake. He said the technology, which he branded the “Golden Goose,” would flow to other places willing to host it. Trump also claimed China welcomed the pushback against the sector inside the United States.
Here is the full post on truthsocial: “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign. The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening! President DJT” on August 31, 2026 at 9:59 AM ET.
This is Trump’s 2nd message released today, and the last post was 1 hour ago, and it is not part of a thread. On average, Trump produces 18 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 23 of his 662 posts over the last 30 days classified as Economy posts.
A data center is a physical room, building or facility that houses IT infrastructure for building, running and delivering applications and services according to ibm. The facilities also store and manage the data tied to those applications and services.Data Centers date back to the 1940s, and the US military’s ENIAC, completed in 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania, is an early example of a facility that required dedicated space for its machines according to ibm. Google® launched the first hyperscale data center in The Dalles, Oregon, in 2006, a facility that now occupies 1.3 million square feet and employs about 200 operators according to ibm.
President Donald J. Trump urged American communities to welcome data centers at Washington D.C.
© copyright Flickr with permission
The industry Trump praised has grown into a multibillion-dollar business precisely because its role is so important, hosting everything from financial records to Netflix® movies according to linesight. Building one demands enormous electricity, often requiring direct intervention by regional utilities. The most secure facilities draw two separate feeds so a single failure does not knock the center offline according to linesight.Data Centers use more than 1.8% of total power, a draw that helps explain local scrutiny of the sector according to linesight.
The reach of the sector extends well beyond the United States. Germany hosts 529 data center companies and a workforce of 210,000 people employed directly or indirectly in the sector according to gtai.de. Colocation and hyperscale facilities contribute EUR 10.4 billion to German GDP, with domestic power capacity projected to reach 2,330 MW by 2030 according to gtai.de. One German operator, maincubes, describes itself as a leading provider with more than 400 MW of platform capacity across seven European locations according to maincubes.
The phrase “Data Reign” that Trump invoked also names a UK-registered firm, DATAREIGN LIMITED, company number 02691618, whose current officers include director Harvey Jack Platter and secretary Susan Barbara Platter according to find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
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