Donald Trump vows to abolish daylight saving time in US, calls it 'inconvenient, very costly'

Donald Trump announced the Republican Party's push to eliminate daylight saving time, citing inconvenience and cost. While the Senate previously approved permanent DST, the House has stalled the measure, leaving the future of time changes uncertain.

US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday that the Republican Party will push to eliminate daylight saving time (DST), a practice he criticized as “inconvenient” and “very costly to our Nation," as per media reports. "The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't!" Trump posted on social media. The paper also stated that "Daylight Saving Time is very costly to our Nation and inconvenient."

"The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn't! Daylight Saving Time (DST) is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation," Trump posted on his website, Truth Social.

What is Daylight Saving time?

Since the 1960s, much of the United States has observed daylight saving time, which moves clocks forward by one hour during the summer to maximise evening daylight. But in recent years, the practice has come under increasing scrutiny.

To increase daylight hours throughout the winter, some MPs want permanent DST, while others support maintaining standard time throughout the year. A third group favours keeping the biannual clock change mechanism in place. President Joe Biden has not publicly taken a stance on the issue, the report added.

The Sunshine Protection Act, a law to permanently implement daylight saving time, was unanimously approved by the US Senate in March 2022. However, after members were unable to agree, the proposal halted in the House of Representatives. Despite a fresh campaign for permanent DST by a bipartisan group of senators in March 2023, Congress has not convened hearings on the issue for more than two years.