Decision on climate treaty soon, says Trump

The U.S. will take a decision on its continuation in the Paris climate treaty within the next two weeks, President Donald Trump said on Saturday, naming China, Russia and India for allegedly contributing nothing under the treaty. During the campaign, Mr. Trump had promised to withdraw from the treaty, but senior officials of his administration are divided over the issue. A decision is expected before the G-7 summit on May 26-27.

“Our government rushed to join international agreement where the U.S. bears the costs and bears the burden while other countries get the benefit and pay nothing and this includes deals like the one-sided Paris Climate Accord. Where the US pays billions while China, Russia and India have contributed, and will contribute, nothing,” Mr. Trump said, addressing a rally in Pennsylvania to mark his 100th day in office, where he revisited a series of controversial and divisive claims and statements that fueled his rise to power. "I'll be making a big decision on the Paris accord over the next two weeks, and we will see what happens," the President said, hours after thousands of people marched in the U.S. capital in support of the climate treaty. The Trump administration has already taken several measures that undermine U.S. commitments under the treaty.

Democrats have argued that India’s commitments to reduce carbon emissions under the treaty are expected to create a big, new market for American renewable energy companies.

The President recited a poem that tells the story of a woman who nurtured a dying snake only to be bitten, to explain why he would not allow refugees to enter the U.S. He had used the poem in his campaign speeches too. The media was also at the receiving end of his assault, while China and Chinese President Xi Jinping were spoken of in glowing terms, in a departure from the campaign rhetoric.

"A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation's capital right now,” the President said of the annual White House correspondents dinner that he refused to attend. He accused several American median platforms, by name, of being unfair to him in the first 100 days and said he was happy to be 100 miles away from the dinner.

Also Read Indian American comedian roasts Trump at media dinner

"As you know I've been a big critic of China, and I've been taking about currency manipulation for a long time," Mr. Trump said. "So we have currency manipulation by China but China is helping us possibly or probably with the North Korean situation. It's a great thing,” the President said, praising his Chinese counterpart.

Correspondents’ dinner

While Mr. Trump spoke against immigration and open borders, the dinner that he skipped turned out to be a platform that endorsed all that. Indian American comedian Hasan Minhaj who was the main performer at the evening took potshots at the President, as is the tradition. "OK, we've got to address the elephant that's not in the room," Mr. Minhaj said. “….I think he's in Pennsylvania because he can't take a joke."

On a serious note, the comedian, whose parents hail from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, said: "Only in America can a first-generation Indian-American Muslim kid get on this stage and make fun of the President. It's a sign to the rest of the world, it's this amazing tradition, that even the President is not beyond the reach of the First Amendment.”

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, journalists who broke the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon, also spoke at the correspondents’ dinner.

“Like politicians and presidents, sometimes, perhaps too frequently, we make mistakes and go too far. When that happens, we should own up to it. But the effort... is largely made in good faith. Mr. President, the media is not fake news,” Mr. Woodward said. In his speech, the President had said the mainstream media was all fake news.