President Trump makes it official: U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement

United States

US President Donald Trump said he would announce whether or not his country continues in the Paris Climate Agreement “in the coming days.”

This Tuesday, Trump met with Scott Pruitt, director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and skeptic of climate change.

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, is ready to undo the path taken by his predecessor Barack Obama. Also, in the fight against climate change.

The leading US media pointed out early on Wednesday – citing White House sources – that Trump is preparing to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement ratified by almost 200 countries in December 2015 and which entered into force in November 2016.

The objective of this United Nations global pact – defended by Obama during his term and in which China also participates – is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from 26% to 25% by 2025 – compared to 2005 levels. – to avoid global warming. The United States is one of the most polluting nations in the world, surpassed by China that holds the first position. Both countries account for at least 40% of greenhouse gas emissions.

The newspaper The New York Times noted that advisers the president has presented the two scenarios to the president and Trump seems convinced that the continued presence of the US in the agreement will harm the economy and will create difficulties in job creation in several regions of the country. The newspaper also recalled that given the unpredictability of the president and the pressure of those who are in favour of remaining in the agreement, it is advisable to wait until the final announcement.

Last week the US president avoided commenting on the agreement during the G7 summit held in Taormina (Italy) and announced on social media that he would announce his decision regarding whether or not the US remains in the Paris agreement ” in a few days”. A message that closed with his campaign slogan Make America Great Again (Let’s make a great America again).

Under that premise and leaving aside its main partners, the withdrawal of the US would not mean the death of the pact. However, it could have adverse effects on the planet, among other reasons, for a possible contagion in other nations that joined the Paris agreement almost reluctantly. Others could relax policies designed to control polluting emissions. During the presidential campaign, Trump was critical of this agreement and climate change, which was an “invention” of the Chinese. The Secretary-General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, recalled this Tuesday at New York University that climate change is undeniable and that its effects “are already being felt around the world, are dangerous and are accelerating.”

Guterres stressed in his speech that ” the implementation of the Paris Agreement is essential ” and urged the world to mobilize around climate action.

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has made official this Thursday the exit of the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, a decision that several American media were already advancing this Wednesday. However, the president has warned that his intention will be to “renegotiate it” to achieve a “fairer” agreement.

“To fulfil my duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States is going to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement,” Trump said at an appearance in the White House gardens, which was interrupted at this point by applause from the assistants.

However, Trump has warned that the United States will exit the agreement to try to renegotiate it to achieve a “more just” agreement.

“We are getting out. But we are going to start negotiating and we will see if we can reach an agreement that is fair,” Trump said in his long-awaited speech.

Thus, the president left the door open for the country to rejoin the climate pact in the future or to negotiate another “entirely” new, “better” and “fairer” agreement for the US.

With the decision, the US “will cease all implementations” of its climate commitments within the framework of Paris “as of today”, which include the goal proposed by former President Barack Obama to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 between 26 and 28% compared to 2005 levels.

“We do not want anything to get in our way,” Trump stressed at the beginning of his speech, highlighting the US economic recovery and placing the Paris Agreement as an obstacle to job creation.

Point 28 of the Paris Agreement indicates that any country that has ratified the agreement, such as the United States, may only request to leave it three years after its entry into force, that is, on November 4, 2019.

Once that request is formally made, another year has to pass for the agreement to be effective, so it will be necessary to wait until November 4, 2020, the day after the next presidential elections in the United States.

The lines of argument released by the White House in coincidence with Trump’s speech indicate that the Paris Agreement is “bad” for the Americans and that, with his action today, the president fulfils his campaign promise to “put first place to the workers “of the country.

The agreement was “badly negotiated” and “desperately” by the Obama administration, “to the detriment” of the US economy and growth.

“The United States is already leading the world in energy production and does not need a bad deal that will harm American workers,” according to the White House.

Trump has called the agreement “draconian” and accuses him of redistributing “the wealth of the United States to other countries.” He also called it “an example of a deal that is disadvantageous to the United States.”

“I have been chosen to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not of Paris”, has argued the president on the exit.

During his election campaign, Trump harshly criticized the Paris agreement and climate change, a phenomenon that he described in the past as an “invention” by the Chinese, and today he insisted that his only “obligation” is to make promises to him. they led the White House and “protect” American interests. 

The Paris Agreement was signed during the term of US President Barack Obama, who defined that pact as “a turning point” and the “best opportunity” to save the planet.

After Trump’s announcement, the former US president has regretted that with the withdrawal of the agreement, the United States places itself in “the small handful of countries that reject the future.”

“Although this Government joins a small handful of countries that reject the future, I am confident that our states, companies and cities will step forward and do even more to lead the way” in the fight against climate change, he said.

Following the announcement, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, and in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, applauded the US president’s decision.

“I congratulate President Trump for keeping his commitment to the American people and withdrawing from this bad deal,” House Speaker Ryan said in a statement. Ryan stressed that the Paris pact “would have raised the cost of energy, and hit lower and middle-income citizens harder.”

For his part, McConnell applauded Trump for addressing “the assault on domestic energy by the government of former President Barack Obama,” who signed the United States into the pact.