Former President Barack Obama said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change accord is a rejection of “the future.”

The White House decided to leave the 195-nation agreement citing concerns that it would hurt the American economy. Trump said at an event in the Rose Garden that the U.S. seeks to be “environmentally friendly,” and that it will sit down with international leaders to renegotiate the climate change deal.

Obama put out his statement condemning Trump’s decision in the middle of these remarks.

“A year and a half ago, the world came together in Paris around the first-ever global agreement to set the world on a low-carbon course and protect the world we leave to our children,” Obama said. “The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created. I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack.”

The former president added: “But even in the absence of American leadership; even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future; I’m confident that our states, cities, and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way, and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got.”