President Donald Trump has met one of his key election promises and confirmed the U.S. will definitely withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

He made the announcement Wednesday night at an energy conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, denouncing the agreeement as a bad deal and lauding his pro-fossil fuel policies that make the U.S. an independent energy superpower.

Trump touted surging U.S. natural gas and crude oil output and his efforts to roll back regulations on energy industries as underpinning his administration’s intention to pull the United States from the 2015 international climate agreement.

“The Paris accord would have been shutting down American producers with excessive regulatory restrictions like you would not believe, while allowing foreign producers to pollute with impunity,” said Trump, who shared the stage with dozens of workers wearing hard hats.

“What we won’t do is punish the American people while enriching foreign polluters,” he said, adding: “I’m proud to say it, it’s called America First.” – READ MORE