Incoming US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell led a Republican chorus objecting to a new US-China deal on climate change Wednesday, calling it the latest sign that President Barack Obama is unwilling to seek common ground with the party set to assume power on Capitol Hill.

McConnell, who won re-election in Kentucky this month in part by railing against what he called the administration's "war on coal," said he was "distressed" by the joint plan to curb carbon emissions.

The US Senate's incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Credit:AP

"The agreement requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emissions regulations are creating havoc on my state and other states around the country," McConnell told reporters during a photo opportunity with the incoming class of Republican senators.

The deal includes new carbon emissions targets for both countries. China is the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. The United States is the second largest.