Trump warns data center opposition will leave US communities 'backwards and poor'

US President Donald Trump said Monday that American communities opposing data center development risk economic decline, casting the facilities as essential to national prosperity.

"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," Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

He argued that embracing the facilities would instead deliver "far lower taxes and jobs all over the place," urging the country to "let Data Reign."

Trump said other locations remain eager to host the facilities if US communities reject them, adding that "there are plenty of other places that want them."

He warned that rejecting the industry could have lasting consequences, saying "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," he added.

Public resistance to data center construction has been growing across the US, according to polling data, owing to rising concerns over increased residential electricity bills, energy and water demands placed on local utilities, noise pollution, and a lack of proportional long-term local job creation.

A University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Public Policy Center survey released this month found 61% of US adults were against new data centers in their area, up from 49% in the spring, with majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents opposed.