President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, but will begin negotiations to “re-enter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction.”
Trump says during a White House Rose Garden announcement that the U.S. will exit the landmark climate agreement aimed at reducing carbon emissions to slow climate change.
Trump says the deal “disadvantages” the U.S. and is causing lost jobs and lower wages.
The announcement fulfills one of Trump’s top campaign pledges. But it also undermines world efforts to combat global warming.
The U.S. had agreed under former President Barack Obama to reduce emissions to 26 percent to 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025 — about 1.6 billion tons.
The president said that the nation would stop adhering to the emissions reductions standards immediately. The agreement was nonbinding.
Trump painted the original deal as “unfair” to American workers and taxpayers, suggesting that other countries had more favorable agreements.
He also said that the United States would be willing to re-enter the deal on “better terms.”
