White Home commerce advisor Peter Navarro speaks to members of the media close to the West Wing of the White Home in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 21, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
President Donald Trump‘s commerce and manufacturing adviser, Peter Navarro, mentioned on Sunday that the White Home might power knowledge middle builders to soak up their prices as voters proceed to bitter on the financial system and utility costs soar.
“All of those knowledge middle builders, Meta on down, have to pay for all, all the prices,” Navarro mentioned on Fox Information’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “They should pay, not solely pay for the electrical energy that they are utilizing on the grid, however they must pay for the resiliency that they are affecting as properly. They should pay for the water. So there’s exercise, motion right here going ahead, the place we power them to internalize the associated fee.”
Navarro didn’t element what the White Home’s plan to power knowledge middle builders to internalize prices would appear like. CNBC has reached out to the White Home for clarification.
When requested about Navarro’s remarks, a Meta spokesperson mentioned the corporate already pays for all of its vitality utilization.
“Meta pays the complete prices for vitality utilized by our knowledge facilities so they are not handed onto customers — and we transcend that by paying for brand spanking new and upgraded native infrastructure in addition to including new energy to the grid,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Information facilities and their drag on utilities are a part of the affordability downside. Electrical energy costs spiked 6.9% yr over yr in 2025 and present little signal of easing. Navarro sought to pin the blame for hovering prices on former President Joe Biden, who left workplace over a yr in the past.
“I simply wish to guarantee those that we’re on it, we additionally really feel your ache,” Navarro mentioned. “We perceive the ravages that inflation took on you due to Joe Biden’s irresponsibility, however we’re addressing that with financial coverage that in the end will make wages rise sooner than the inflation fee, and that is the important thing to affordability.”
However Individuals more and more blame the Trump administration for rising prices. Because the November 2026 midterms strategy, polls constantly discover Trump underwater on the financial system. Democrats are pounding Trump and the Republicans on affordability, arguing that on a regular basis items and providers have grown too costly. Democrats have taken a 5.2 level lead within the generic poll forward of the November midterm elections that might loosen Trump’s grip on Washington, in response to polling averages from RealClearPolitics.
Whereas Navarro sought in charge the previous president’s administration for Individuals’ wrestle with affordability, Trump himself has mentioned he is “very proud” of the state of the financial system. In an interview with “NBC Nightly Information” that aired throughout the Tremendous Bowl on Sunday, the president was requested, “At what level are we within the Trump financial system?”
“I might say we’re there now,” he replied.
The Trump administration has lately taken steps to deal with the pressure on knowledge middle electrical energy and rising utility prices.
A number of states and the White Home signed a pact in January urging the nation’s largest grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to make massive expertise corporations pay for brand spanking new energy vegetation on the system. PJM operates the grid in a number of the most knowledge center-heavy areas within the U.S., together with northern Virginia and New Jersey.
Democratic Govs. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey each romped to victories of their states in 2025 after campaigning to decrease electrical energy prices.
The pact known as for $15 billion in new technology capability inside PJM, to be financed by tech corporations, and urged the operator to carry an emergency public sale to acquire the ability. The transfer comes because the administration concurrently fights offshore wind initiatives within the Northeast, a few of that are totally permitted or underneath building.
“Maybe no area in America is extra in danger than in PJM,” Vitality Secretary Chris Wright mentioned after the announcement. “That is why President Trump requested governors throughout the Mid-Atlantic to return collectively and name upon PJM to permit America to construct massive dependable energy vegetation once more.”
POLITICO final week reported on a draft compact that the White Home desires tech corporations to signal to make sure knowledge facilities do not have an effect on customers’ utility payments.
Trump mentioned final month on Reality Social that he had struck a cope with Microsoft “to make sure that Individuals do not ‘decide up the tab’ for his or her POWER consumption, within the type of paying greater Utility payments.” The president added that his administration was negotiating with different tech giants and that there can be “Extra to return quickly!”
Microsoft pledged final month to not increase utility prices close to its knowledge facilities, and to replenish water utilized by the facilities.
