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Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman warned on Sunday that President Donald Trump has "taken America out of the game" on a key issue, and it will likely allow China to dominate the U.S. in the future. Krugman argued in a new essay on Substack that Trump's policies toward wind and solar energy will allow China to take the lead in global energy production, which it could use as leverage against the U.S. in future trade negotiations. "The fact is that the world’s energy future will be dominated by solar and wind power," Krugman wrote. "They won’t necessarily rule completely: Nuclear power may (and should) have a role, and we’re a long way from completely weaning ourselves off fossil fuels. But a combination of rapidly falling costs for renewables, rapidly rising demand for electricity, and big obstacles to meeting that demand by burning stuff — more on that later — make renewable dominance inevitable." "And China will dominate that energy future," he continued. "It’s arguable that this didn’t have to happen, and Europe may be able to keep some role in wind power. But under Donald Trump, America has taken itself out of the game, and even if sanity eventually returns to U.S. energy policy (and U.S. politics in general), by then we will almost surely be too far behind to catch up." The impact of allowing China to take the lead in renewable enrgy could have long-lasting impacts, Krugman warned. "We’ve already seen China deploy its dominance of rare earths to great effect in its trade conflict with America," he wrote. "It would be foolish to ignore the implications of its likely dominance of renewable energy."
