President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. The White House said they will reopen negotiations so as to arrive at a deal that puts American workers first.
This decision fulfills a Trump campaign promise. In a release, the White House said the Paris Climate Accord would “cost the U.S. economy nearly $3 trillion in reduced output, over 6 million industrial jobs, and over 3 million manufacturing jobs.”
“At what point does America get demeaned? At what point do they start laughing at us as a country?” asked Trump at a Rose Garden event Thursday.
Continuing his criticisms, Trump said, “We want fair treatment. We don’t want other countries and other leaders to laugh at us anymore.”
“I was elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh,” Trump added, “not Paris.”
The Obama administration entered the pact along with 195 other nations on Dec. 12, 2015. The Paris agreement states that the threat of climate change is “urgent and potentially irreversible,” and must be addressed through “the widest possible cooperation by all countries” and “deep reductions in global emissions.”
The agreement calls for countries to recognize climate change and adopt green energy sources, cut down on climate change emissions and limit the rise of global temperatures, reports NPR.
Trump said Thursday that “this agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States.”
After Trump’s announcement, leaders of France, Italy and Germany said in a joint statement that the US cannot unilaterally renegotiate the terms of the agreement.
The deal “cannot be renegotiated based on the request of a single party” proclaimed the UN body that facilitated the deal.
