President Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord last night and said he would negotiate a fairer global agreement to “put American workers first”.
The move came shortly before the White House lodged an appeal at the Supreme Court to reinstate Mr Trump’s travel ban on majority Muslim countries.
Mr Trump rejected advice from allies, including Britain, who had urged him to keep to the 195-nation pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions. He said: “In order to fulfil my solemn duty to America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord but begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or a new transaction with terms that are fair.”
The leaders of France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement saying the Paris deal could not be renegotiated.
Staying in the pact would result in a “massive redistribution of US wealth to other countries”, Mr Trump said. “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more.” He argued that the accord would cut trillions of dollars from American output and cost 2.7 million US jobs by 2025. White House advisers believe other signatories, including China, are fiddling their emissions figures and that climate change warnings are “alarmist”.
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The agreement aims to prevent average global temperatures rising more than 2C over pre-industrial levels, with each country setting its own emissions targets. Barack Obama, who signed the Paris accord last year, said Mr Trump was “rejecting the future”. Theresa May told Mr Trump last night that the accord “provides the right global framework for protecting the prosperity and security of future generations”.
Late last night the Trump administration filed an appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the decision to block an executive order denying entry to people from six Muslim countries for 90 days and suspending the nation’s refugee program for 120 days. The filing argues that Mr Trump’s executive order is “well within his lawful authority to keep the nation safe and protect our communities from terrorism”.
