Trudeau 2.0 Wants Net Zero — Trump Wants Coal

“Canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party.”

– Robin Williams

May 28, 2025 — Forget the King’s speech, Canada’s new prime minister has a plan.

Not to grow the economy. Not to strengthen national security. Not even to fix the housing crisis or rising crime.

Nope.

Mark Carney wants to save the planet.

This short clip from his speech at the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) tells you everything you need to know about his priorities:

Here’s the gist:

You demanded action, and now it’s time for the financial sector to deliver. To reach net zero, every country, every company, every bank, every investor, every pension fund around the world will need to make some big changes…

Let’s reshape finance for a sustainable world.

Former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England…

Deep ties to the World Economic Forum (WEF)…

One of the architects of the WEF’s “stakeholder capitalism” doctrine…

Carney is basically Trudeau 2.0—only on steroids… and with an even bigger appetite for top-down economic control.

And now he’s in charge.

Carney is probably the most devout climate zealot ever elected to national office. For instance, he’s argued that Canada must spend $2 trillion by 2050 to meet its climate goals.

Well, we already know how this story ends.

Remember Spain?

After years of gutting coal and nuclear while pouring billions into wind and solar, renewables made up nearly two-thirds of its grid by late 2024.

The result? A nationwide blackout (on April 28, 2025). 15 gigawatts vanished in minutes. Trains stopped. Hospitals scrambled. Spain became a case study in what happens when ideology outruns engineering.

But this isn’t just a Spain (or Canada) problem. It’s a Western problem…. and it’s entirely self-inflicted.

The Odd One Out

But there’s one country that’s going in the opposite direction.

America.

Love him or hate him, Trump is setting the stage for an energy revival. One built on actual baseload power — not fantasy.

Note: Baseload power refers to the steady, reliable kind of electricity that’s always on and always available. It’s the backbone of the grid—the power you can count on to meet consistent, round-the-clock demand.

On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to unshackle America’s energy sector. Now he’s following through… and he’s putting one fuel back at the center of the nation’s energy strategy: coal.

Within days of taking office, he declared a national energy emergency and signed a sweeping executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy.”

Then came a wave of actions that changed the game for coal:

Four executive orders aimed at boosting coal production and use—fast-tracking leases, slashing red tape, and invoking emergency powers to keep older coal plants online.
The designation of coal as a “critical mineral,” unlocking fast-track permitting and national security protections.
Rollbacks of anti-coal regulations—including Obama-era moratoriums and emissions rules.
A new export push, support for clean coal technologies, and streamlined permitting for coal infrastructure.
Over $200 billion in low-cost federal financing through the DOE’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program—now open to coal projects.
And just last month, a new directive: Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful, Clean Coal Industry. This order amended Executive Order 14241 to prioritize regulatory reform, promote clean coal, and modernize coal infrastructure in the name of energy security.

It’s the clearest 180° I’ve seen in years.

Back in Step with Reality

But in many ways, this isn’t radical at all — it’s just America realigning with the rest of the world.

Because globally, coal still dominates. Yes, as you can see in the next chart, coal is still the most-used fuel for making electricity around the world.

Turn Your Images On

Back in 2018, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted we’d never surpass coal’s 2014 peak. But by 2023, they had to eat their words — global coal demand hit a record 8.5 billion tons. Now, even the EIA expects demand to plateau through at least 2027, not decline. I think they’ll be eating their words again.

And it’s not hard to see why. In many ways, coal remains the most practical baseload power source out there. Just look at the alternatives:

Nuclear: Clean and consistent, but expensive, inflexible, and politically charged.
Natural gas: Fast-ramping and cleaner than coal, but reliant on pipeline infrastructure.
Hydro: Great where it works, but geography- and climate-dependent.
Geothermal: Excellent baseload, but limited to specific geologies.

So when you hear people knocking coal, they’re either green zealots — not worth arguing with — or just in the dark about its many advantages (thanks, media).

Now, can some of Trump’s pro-coal executive orders be challenged in court?

Sure. And some likely will be — especially by blue states or environmental groups. Certain provisions could get delayed, diluted, or blocked if they’re found to skirt laws like NEPA or the Clean Air Act.

But here’s the thing: no court ruling can reverse a political tidal wave.

What Trump’s doing isn’t symbolic — it’s a full-blown policy pivot. And it’s already reshaping capital flows, market sentiment, and investor expectations across the entire energy sector.

Lau Vegys
Doug Casey’s Crisis Investing & Grey Swan

P.S. from Addison: Coal and nuclear have gotten the Executive Order treatment… and not by autopen. On Trump’s nuclear announcement Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, the uranium miner UUUU jumped nearly 10%.

As part of President Trump’s “all-of-the-above” energy independence and AI economy strategy, coal and uranium are both attractive.

We’ve also identified opportunities in natural gas. The commodity is abundant in the United States, and is a key component of President Trump’s Great Reset agenda, since it can help continue America’s energy independence and keep energy costs down. If you’re not a paying member, take a look. It’ll be worth your time.

Meanwhile, if you’re a full-fledged Grey Swan Investment Fraternity member, please take note. We’ll be hosting Grey Swan Live! tomorrow at 11am EST. Our intrepid analyst Andrew Packer will be joining us from Las Vegas, where he’s attending Bitcoin 2025.

Turn Your Images On

The Trump team’s all in at Bitcoin 2025. (Source: Andrew Packer.)

Andrew’s been eagerly sending texts, including this pic of VP JD Vance giving the keynote address to the group. We’ll get a full download. See you tomorrow.

Your thoughts? Please send them here: addison@greyswanfraternity.com

“Canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party.”

– Robin Williams

May 28, 2025 — Forget the King’s speech, Canada’s new prime minister has a plan.

Not to grow the economy. Not to strengthen national security. Not even to fix the housing crisis or rising crime.

Nope.

Mark Carney wants to save the planet.

This short clip from his speech at the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) tells you everything you need to know about his priorities:

Here’s the gist:

You demanded action, and now it’s time for the financial sector to deliver. To reach net zero, every country, every company, every bank, every investor, every pension fund around the world will need to make some big changes…

Let’s reshape finance for a sustainable world.

Former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England…

Deep ties to the World Economic Forum (WEF)…

One of the architects of the WEF’s “stakeholder capitalism” doctrine…

Carney is basically Trudeau 2.0—only on steroids… and with an even bigger appetite for top-down economic control.

And now he’s in charge.

Carney is probably the most devout climate zealot ever elected to national office. For instance, he’s argued that Canada must spend $2 trillion by 2050 to meet its climate goals.

Well, we already know how this story ends.

Remember Spain?

After years of gutting coal and nuclear while pouring billions into wind and solar, renewables made up nearly two-thirds of its grid by late 2024.

But this isn’t just a Spain (or Canada) problem. It’s a Western problem…. and it’s entirely self-inflicted.

The Odd One Out

But there’s one country that’s going in the opposite direction.

America.

Love him or hate him, Trump is setting the stage for an energy revival. One built on actual baseload power — not fantasy.

Note: Baseload power refers to the steady, reliable kind of electricity that’s always on and always available. It’s the backbone of the grid—the power you can count on to meet consistent, round-the-clock demand.

On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to unshackle America’s energy sector. Now he’s following through… and he’s putting one fuel back at the center of the nation’s energy strategy: coal.

Within days of taking office, he declared a national energy emergency and signed a sweeping executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy.”

Then came a wave of actions that changed the game for coal:

Four executive orders aimed at boosting coal production and use—fast-tracking leases, slashing red tape, and invoking emergency powers to keep older coal plants online.
The designation of coal as a “critical mineral,” unlocking fast-track permitting and national security protections.
Rollbacks of anti-coal regulations—including Obama-era moratoriums and emissions rules.
A new export push, support for clean coal technologies, and streamlined permitting for coal infrastructure.
Over $200 billion in low-cost federal financing through the DOE’s Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program—now open to coal projects.
And just last month, a new directive: Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful, Clean Coal Industry. This order amended Executive Order 14241 to prioritize regulatory reform, promote clean coal, and modernize coal infrastructure in the name of energy security.

It’s the clearest 180° I’ve seen in years.

Back in Step with Reality

But in many ways, this isn’t radical at all — it’s just America realigning with the rest of the world.

Because globally, coal still dominates. Yes, as you can see in the next chart, coal is still the most-used fuel for making electricity around the world.

Turn Your Images On

And it’s not hard to see why. In many ways, coal remains the most practical baseload power source out there. Just look at the alternatives:

Nuclear: Clean and consistent, but expensive, inflexible, and politically charged.
Natural gas: Fast-ramping and cleaner than coal, but reliant on pipeline infrastructure.
Hydro: Great where it works, but geography- and climate-dependent.
Geothermal: Excellent baseload, but limited to specific geologies.

So when you hear people knocking coal, they’re either green zealots — not worth arguing with — or just in the dark about its many advantages (thanks, media).

Now, can some of Trump’s pro-coal executive orders be challenged in court?

But here’s the thing: no court ruling can reverse a political tidal wave.

What Trump’s doing isn’t symbolic — it’s a full-blown policy pivot. And it’s already reshaping capital flows, market sentiment, and investor expectations across the entire energy sector.

Lau Vegys
Doug Casey’s Crisis Investing & Grey Swan

As part of President Trump’s “all-of-the-above” energy independence and AI economy strategy, coal and uranium are both attractive.

Turn Your Images On

The Trump team’s all in at Bitcoin 2025. (Source: Andrew Packer.)

Andrew’s been eagerly sending texts, including this pic of VP JD Vance giving the keynote address to the group. We’ll get a full download. See you tomorrow.

Your thoughts? Please send them here: addison@greyswanfraternity.com

Back in April, when we published what we called the Trump Great Reset Strategy, we described the grand realignment we believed President Trump and his acolytes were embarking on in three phases.

At the time, it read like a conceptual map. As the months passed, it began to feel like a set of operating instructions written in advance of turbulence.

As you can expect, any grandiose plan would get all kinds of blowback… but this year exhibited all manner of Trump Derangement Syndrome on top of the difficulty of steering a sclerotic empire clear of the rocky shores.

The “phases” were never about optimism or pessimism. They were about sequencing — how stress surfaces, how systems adapt, and what must hold before confidence can regenerate. And in the end, what do we do with our money?!

Relative to GDP, the net international investment claim on the U.S. economy was 20% in 2003. It had swollen to 65% by 2023. Practically every type of American company, bond, or real estate asset now has some degree of foreign ownership.

But it’s even worse than that. As the federal deficit has pumped up the GDP figures, and made a larger share of the economy dependent on government spending, the quality and sustainability of GDP have deteriorated. So, foreigners, to the extent they are paying attention, are accumulating claims on an economy that has been eroded by inefficient, government-directed spending and “investments.” Why should foreign creditors maintain confidence in the integrity of these paper claims? Only to the extent that their economies are even worse off. And in the case of China, that’s probably true.

As global government interest expense climbed, gold quietly followed it higher. The IIF estimates that interest costs on government debt now run at nearly $4.9 trillion annually. Over the same span, gold prices have tracked that burden almost one-for-one.

Silver has recently gone along for the ride, with even more enthusiasm.

Since early 2023, Japan’s 10-year government bond yield has risen roughly 150 basis points, touching levels not seen since the 1990s.

Over that same period, gold prices have surged about 135%, while silver is up roughly 175%. Zoom out two years, and the divergence becomes starker still: gold up 114%, silver up 178%, while the S&P 500 gained 44%.

According to the American Association of Individual Investors, the average retail investor has about a 70% allocation to stocks. That’s well over the traditional 60/40 split between stocks and bonds. Even a 60/40 allocation ignores real estate, gold, collectibles, and private assets.

A pullback in the 10% range – which is likely in any given year – will prompt investors to scream as if it’s the end of the world.

Our “panic now, avoid the rush” strategy is simple.

Take tech profits off the table, raise some cash, and focus on industry-leading companies that pay dividends. Roll those dividends up and use compounding to your overall portfolio’s advantage.

Back in April, when we published what we called the Trump Great Reset Strategy, we described the grand realignment we believed President Trump and his acolytes were embarking on in three phases.

At the time, it read like a conceptual map. As the months passed, it began to feel like a set of operating instructions written in advance of turbulence.

Silver has recently gone along for the ride, with even more enthusiasm.

Since early 2023, Japan’s 10-year government bond yield has risen roughly 150 basis points, touching levels not seen since the 1990s.

A pullback in the 10% range – which is likely in any given year – will prompt investors to scream as if it’s the end of the world.

Our “panic now, avoid the rush” strategy is simple.

Take tech profits off the table, raise some cash, and focus on industry-leading companies that pay dividends. Roll those dividends up and use compounding to your overall portfolio’s advantage.