Global warming is a hoax invented by China
| Global warming is a hoax invented by China | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese to make US manufacturing uncompetitive." | |
| Domain | Climate, Energy & Environment |
| Tactic | Conspiracy Theory |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | November 2012 |
| Origin | A tweet by Donald Trump on November 6, 2012 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-29 |
| Further reading: books on Climate, Energy & Environment | |
In a November 2012 tweet, Donald Trump wrote that the concept of global warming had been created by and for China to damage US manufacturing. The science of human-caused climate change long predates China's rise as an industrial power and was developed largely by Western scientists. During a 2016 presidential debate, Trump denied having said it; the tweet remained online. He later said the comment had been a joke.
The claim
The tweet framed climate science as an economic weapon, a theme Trump returned to when calling climate change a "hoax" on other occasions.
What the evidence shows
- Origins of the science. The greenhouse effect was described in the 19th century by scientists including John Tyndall and Svante Arrhenius. Measurements of rising carbon dioxide began in Hawaii in 1958 under American scientist Charles David Keeling.
- Scientific consensus. National academies of science around the world and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change conclude that human activities are the dominant cause of recent warming.
- China's position. China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide and has itself resisted binding international limits at times, which undercuts the idea that it invented the concern to harm others.
See also
Sources
- Donald J. Trump, post on Twitter, November 6, 2012.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group I, 2021.