President Donald Trump has left the door open in the past for the U.S. to recommit to the accords but has said it would have to negotiate a better deal. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump: U.S. could 'conceivably' re-enter Paris deal, but it threatened 'competitive edge'

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States could “conceivably” re-enter the Paris climate agreement, but he said the deal would have jeopardized the country’s competitive edge.

Trump spoke during a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, whose country has shown strong support for the Paris agreement and had expressed disappointment over the U.S. decision to leave the deal.


“The EPA and commissioners are very powerful in the sense that they want to have clean water, clean air, but we also want businesses that can compete,” Trump said Wednesday. “And the Paris accord really would have taken away our competitive edge. And we are not going to let this happen. I’m not going to let that happen.”

"As usual, they made a bad deal," Trump said. "So we can conceivably go back in. But I say this, we are very strong on the environment. I feel very strongly about the environment."

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Trump has left the door open in the past for the U.S. to recommit to the accords but has said it would have to negotiate a better deal, which appears unlikely given the number of countries involved in negotiating the current agreement.

