{"id":324741,"date":"2017-06-02T08:38:09","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T08:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=324741"},"modified":"2017-06-02T08:38:09","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T08:38:09","slug":"dismay-as-trump-signals-exit-from-accord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/06\/dismay-as-trump-signals-exit-from-accord\/","title":{"rendered":"Dismay as Trump signals exit from accord"},"content":{"rendered":"
There has been widespread international condemnation of President Trump’s announcement that the US is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.<\/p>\n
UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman called it “a major disappointment” while the European Union said it was “a sad day for the world”.<\/p>\n
However, senior Republicans and the US coal industry-backed the move.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump said the accord “punished” the US and would cost millions of American jobs.<\/p>\n
In an address at the White House, he said he was prepared to negotiate a new agreement or re-enter the accord on improved terms.<\/p>\n
“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” he said.<\/p>\n
The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and “endeavour to limit” them even more, to 1.5C.<\/p>\n
Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up to the deal.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump characterised the Paris agreement as a deal that aimed to hobble, disadvantage and impoverish the US.<\/p>\n
He claimed the agreement would cost the US $3tn (\u00a32.3tn) in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs – while rival economies like China and India were treated more favourably.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump said he was fulfilling his “solemn duty to protect America and its citizens”.<\/p>\n
He added: “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore – and they won’t be.”<\/p>\n
Mr Trump did not give a timescale. However, under the agreement, a nation seeking to leave the pact can only give notice three years after the date it entered into force – 16 November 2016.<\/p>\n
The process of leaving then takes another year, meaning it would not be complete until just weeks after the US presidential election in 2020.<\/p>\n
US payments to the UN Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, will stop.<\/p>\n
What has the reaction been?<\/strong><\/p>\n Former US President Barack Obama<\/strong>, who agreed to the Paris deal, immediately criticised the move, accusing the Trump administration of “rejecting the future”.<\/p>\n Disney’s chief executive Robert Iger<\/strong> and the entrepreneur Elon Musk<\/strong> both resigned from White House advisory councils.<\/p>\n “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” said Mr Musk, the head of tech giant Tesla.<\/p>\n However, Republican congressional leaders and the US coal industry backed the move, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell<\/strong> supporting Mr Trump “for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs”.<\/p>\n Peabody Energy<\/strong>, America’s biggest coal mining firm, said the agreement would have badly affected the US economy.<\/p>\n Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer<\/strong> called the decision “one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st Century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n