President Trump will start the process of exiting the Paris climate change agreement, White House officials told allies Thursday.

Aides broke the news in separate calls with congressional staffers and officials from conservative think tanks, all of whom oppose the Paris deal, sources said.

The White House also distributed written talking points for allies framing the agreement as a bad deal for the United States that threatens the economy and was poorly negotiated.

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Trump is due to formally announce the Paris exit Thursday afternoon at a White House ceremony.

The administration will exit the pact through the formal procedure laid out in it, so the withdrawal will not be official until 2020, the sources said.

The calls were first reported by the Daily Beast.

In the 2015 agreement, nearly 200 nations made nonbinding pledges to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Former President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaObama warns of a 'decade of unfair, partisan gerrymandering' in call to look at down-ballot races Quinnipiac polls show Trump leading Biden in Texas, deadlocked race in Ohio Poll: Trump opens up 6-point lead over Biden in Iowa MORE committed the United States to a 26 percent to 28 percent emissions cut by 2025.

Nicaragua and Syria are the only other nations that are not in the agreement.

Trump had promised during the presidential campaign to withdraw the United States, but has gotten pushback from some big businesses, oil and natural gas companies and others.