One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president was an executive order that could kill the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States.

Trump’s order, signed Monday, halted federal leases for offshore wind development on the outer continental shelf — a location far enough from shore that wind speeds are consistently higher, but near enough that it’s readily accessible. 

“This withdrawal does not apply to leasing related to any other purposes such as, but not limited to, oil, gas, minerals, and environmental conservation,” the order states.

The order does not halt work on projects that have signed leases, though it does direct the Secretary of the Interior to review existing contracts for ways to terminate or amend them.

Offshore wind has had a rough go of it in the United States. There are just a handful of operating offshore wind farms in American waters, amounting to just 174 megawatts of capacity at the end of May, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. That’s a fraction of a percent of the worldwide total of 68 gigawatts, most of which are in Europe and China.

The sector’s prospects were starting to improve, though, with 4.1 gigawatts under construction, another 3.4 gigawatts approved, and another 19.8 gigawatts moving through the permitting process. Altogether, that would have helped reach the Biden Administration’s goal of boosting offshore wind capacity to 30 gigawatts by the end of the decade.

While offshore wind is still expensive compared with other sources of power, its relative consistency and proximity to major population centers — and data centers — has made it attractive. In Europe, data centers operators have been keen to sign deals. Last year, Google agreed to buy 478 megawatts of offshore wind power to supply two data centers in the Netherlands.

In the U.S., offshore wind has been hampered by public resistance, a lack of infrastructure required to build and install the turbines. The availability of cheap, windy land in the interior of the country has also tilted the scales in favor of onshore turbines.

Since the majority of offshore wind development occurs in other countries, Trump’s executive order won’t kill offshore wind entirely. Instead, the sector is likely to mature in other countries, where companies can gain expertise, waiting for the U.S. market to reopen.