President Trump said on Thursday that the United States, the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, would exit the Paris climate change agreement, but then attempt to reenter the deal on its own terms.
Trump argued that the US was getting a raw deal from the accord. He, like most congressional Republicans and conservatives off Capitol Hill, contended the US would sacrifice too much while competitors like China and India face less stringent, immediate restrictions.
Many analysts said the decision heralds waning American influence and soft power on the world stage. The vacuum leaves nations like China ascendant, though some fear the US departure will stymie ambition from other nations that must drastically cut emissions to avoid catastrophic warming.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said: “Generations from now, Americans will look back at Donald Trump’s decision to leave the Paris agreement as one of the most ignorant and dangerous actions ever taken by any president.”
While the US had previously pledged to cut emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, it was unlikely to get there under Trump whether or not it remained in the Paris process. That’s because the Trump administration has already begun unwinding the Clean Power Plan – regulations to curb power plant emissions – and achieving the aspirational 26-to-28 cut would have required additional action. Under Trump, such measures are farfetched.
International observers reacted with defiance. Leaders of major economies China, India, the EU, Germany and France have all stood strongly by the accord in recent weeks. Others have threatened retaliation through trade and other multilateral agreements.
On Thursday, Germany’s environment minister Barbara Hendricks said she regretted Trump’s decision but that “climate action will continue and will not be stopped by this decision”.
“The damage this causes to multilateral cooperation is even more severe than the damage done to international climate action… By leaving, the US administration is throwing away a precious opportunity for forward-looking development in the United States. This decision harms the United States itself most of all,” said Hendricks.
Trump’s action delivers on a campaign pledge to “cancel” the Paris agreement, aligning with a nationalist tenor that sought to buoy rural regions in the US hard hit by globalisation. Many of those areas are also dependent on fossil fuel extraction.
Parts of Appalachia, the midwest and west, which largely backed Trump in last fall’s election, have struggled economically, especially in recent years. Cheaply available natural gas and falling renewable prices have edged out coal in the electricity sector this decade, and global oil prices collapsed amid a supply glut. Environmental policies, particularly those championed by President Obama, played a role in the downturn but were largely pegged as the main culprit for regional troubles.
As such, the nixing the Paris agreement became a rallying cry for rural America, congressional Republicans and nationalists within and without the Trump White House. They said the pact handcuffed US independence and restrained economic growth, suggesting that escaping the deal would give distressed areas a freer hand.
