President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement. He said that the deal to address global warming is unfair to the United States. He did say that he would be open to renegotiating the climate accord or initiating a new one.
In his announcement, President Trump said, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” The Vatican called the withdrawal “a slap in the face.” There are only two other countries in the world that did not sign the Paris accord: Syria, pre-occupied with its civil war, and Nicaragua, which said that the agreement didn’t go far enough.
From Philip Rucker and Chris Mooney, Trump announces U.S. will exit Paris climate deal – The Washington Post:
President Trump announced Thursday afternoon that he is withdrawing the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, a move to honor a campaign pledge that jeopardizes America’s alliances and stymies the global effort to address the warming planet.
Trump’s decision alarmed leaders around the world, drawing swift condemnation from foreign officials as well as top U.S. environmentalists and corporate titans, who decried the U.S. exit from the Paris accord as an irresponsible abdication of American leadership.
But Trump cast his decision as a “reassertion of America’s sovereignty,” arguing that the climate pact as negotiated under President Obama was grossly unfair to the U.S. workers and companies.
Trump said the Paris accord had negative ramifications for domestic manufacturing and other industries, and put the United States at a “permanent disadvantage” with China, India and other rising powers. He said the agreement’s restrictions on future greenhouse gas emissions would be tantamount to putting America’s vast energy resources “under lock and key.”
“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Trump proclaimed in a forceful, lengthy and at times rambling speech from the Rose Garden of the White House.
Photo of Paris climate agreement meeting by U.S. Department of State from United States [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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