Washington, Jun 1 (PTI): President Donald Trump said today that he will announce his decision on whether the US will withdraw from the Paris climate accord tomorrow, amid strong indications he may pull out of the landmark deal isolating America in international efforts to fight global warming.
Withdrawing from the Paris agreement was one of the major campaign promises of Trump, who has previously called climate change a “hoax” and last week brushed aside pressure from US allies during the G7 summit in Sicily to endorse the deal his predecessor Barack Obama worked passionately to achieve.
“I will be announcing my decision on Paris accord, Thursday at 3:00 PM (12:30 am Friday). The White House Rose Garden. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump tweeted.
Two US news organisations - Axis and CBS News - reported that Trump had made a decision to withdraw from the deal and the administration has been informing world leaders about it.
Doung so will isolate the US as 195 countries agree on the 2015 Paris accord. Syria and Nicaragua are the only two countries who have not signed the historic 2015 accord.
Nicaragua did not sign the deal because it apparently believed the agreement was not enough to combat climate change and would not punish those who failed to meet their voluntary pledges, while war-torn Syria was effectively internationally isolated when the accord was first signed.
Through the Paris accord, world leaders agreed in 2015 to cut carbon emissions to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5C above where they were before the Industrial Revolution.
Trump’s reported decision has been criticised by former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who said withdrawing from the agreement would impact of America’s global standing.
“We cannot stand idly by and allow Trump to continue to undermine the very strong foundation based on values that we in democracies share. Politicians come and go, but these values and the role that they play in stabilising the world after the worst war in humanity, is critically important,” she told Recode’s Code Conference in an interview.
She said for the US “to throw our lot in with the very, very small number of countries” would be a breach of an agreement.
“They’re looking to throw all that out the window. But what’s really stupid about it is they’re throwing out the economic opportunities that being part of the Paris agreement provide for the United States. That is what I find totally incomprehensible,” Clinton said.
She blamed the reported decision on Trump’s “impulsive, reactive personality.” “If we all like the Paris agreement, he may decide to get out of it. Not even understanding one bit about what that means. Or understanding the economic costs of it,” she said. Clinton, a Democrat who contested Trump in the November presidential election, went further to elaborate the economic costs of pulling out of the climate change deal.
“You know, somebody is going to really... have the market for clean energy exports. China is moving full speed ahead to be that country. Some of the European countries, particularly when it comes to wind, are already there. Israel, I know has some great research being done, particularly on solar,” she added.
But Trump has often said the US did not get a “fair deal” in the Paris accord.
Yesterday, the UN chief said even if Trump decides to leave the deal, “it’s very important for the US society as a whole the cities, the states, the companies, the businesses to remain engaged” with the agreement.”
“It is a reason to build ever broader coalitions with civil society and business, with cities and states, with academia and community leaders,” he told students, business leaders and academics at the New York University Stern School of Business.
