Trump: "Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient and costly... should be abolished"

Government Efficiency Department Head Nominee Musk Shares the Same Position

Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, called for the abolition of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on the 13th (local time).

On that day, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, describing the DST system as "inconvenient and very costly to the country," and stated, "The Republican Party will do its best to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong support base."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump campaigning in North Carolina
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

Daylight Saving Time was devised to efficiently use work hours and energy resources during the summer months when the sun rises early, and it is currently implemented in about 80 countries worldwide. During summer, the standard time is set one hour ahead, and when DST ends, the clock is turned back to the original time. In South Korea, DST was implemented from 1949 to 1961 but was abolished due to frequent time changes causing national confusion. In the United States, according to the federal law enacted in 1966, DST begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November each year. DST is applied throughout the U.S. except for Hawaii, Arizona, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Some argue for the abolition of DST, citing that changing the time twice a year can cause sleep disorders and health problems.

In particular, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the appointed head of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency under the second Trump administration, commented on the 27th of last month on a post by an X user advocating for the abolition of DST, stating, "It seems many people were annoyed by the frequent time changes," raising questions about the necessity of DST.

Proponents of DST argue that setting the clock forward by one hour means the sun stays up relatively later, allowing for less energy consumption. David Prerau, who wrote a book on the history of DST, explained that this energy saving was the main reason for the introduction of DST.

However, a 2008 study showed that the annual energy savings from DST amounted to only 0.03%. Additionally, a research team at the University of California, Santa Barbara, pointed out that DST could actually increase energy consumption, and voices calling for the abolition of the system are growing louder.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.