WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump says he will withdraw the United States from the historic Paris agreement on combating climate change, a move that damages the international effort to address a problem he calls a hoax and isolates the world’s superpower from almost every other nation.

Trump said he would try to negotiate a new deal on “terms that are fair to the United States.” But he did not say what kinds of changes might satisfy him, and the leaders of France, Germany and Italy said there would be no more talks.

Trump, though, described the agreement as environmentally insignificant and economically harmful.

Trump’s decision increases the chances that the world will experience the most catastrophic consequences of sharply rising temperatures, such as deadly droughts, severe coastal flooding and mass migration.

The withdrawal of the world’s biggest economy and second-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide could have far-reaching impacts on the climate and international affairs.

In a speech filled with false and misleading claims, he framed the accord as a kind of global conspiracy to impede the U.S. economy, while imposing few burdens on other nations and thwarting American growth.





“This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States. The rest of the world applauded when we signed the Paris Agreement — they went wild, they were so happy — for the simple reason that it put our country, the United States of America, which we all love, at a very, very big economic disadvantage,” he said in a Thursday speech in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Under the deal, the U.S. had agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent from 2005 levels by 2025.

“We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more. And they won’t be,” he said. “They won’t be.”

Trump’s decision triggered a chorus of condemnation from Western leaders including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said in a statement that he was “deeply disappointed.”

U.S. President Donald Trump says the Paris accord is more about other nations gaining a "financial advantage" over the U.S. than it is about climate change. (The Associated Press)

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a rare speech delivered partially in English, said the U.S. had “turned its back on the world.”

Inviting U.S. scientists to move to France, Macron concluded his barbed rebuttal with a play on Trump’s campaign refrain.

“Make our planet great again,” he said.

Trump’s withdrawal, which fulfils a promise from his “America First” election campaign, will make the U.S. the only world power and only the third country entirely outside the 2015 pact. The other two are Syria, which is embroiled in a civil war, and Nicaragua, which believes the deal was not stringent enough.

The U.S. cannot formally exit the agreement right away. The earliest departure date is the 2020 election, which means the accord might become a campaign issue.

But Trump said he would immediately cut off participation in Paris initiatives, rescinding the $2-billion (U.S.) pledge to a fund meant to help poor countries transition to cleaner energy sources.

The absence of such money may make these countries less able and willing to meet their own commitments under the accord. Some wealthy countries, meanwhile, may feel less compelled to make progress, absent U.S. involvement and pressure.

China may now become the dominant player in shaping the world’s climate policy.

And the decision may create diplomatic problems for a president already facing deep skepticism from traditional U.S. partners, further hindering Trump’s ability to work with other leaders on issues unrelated to the environment.

It is also possible that the decision will be end up being of little practical importance. Trump’s administration was planning to roll back U.S. efforts to combat climate change no matter what he decided on Paris, and the world’s other top emitters, most notably emissions king China, say they will stick with the agreement.

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It was unclear what Trump would seek to renegotiate, and analysts were puzzled by his repeated claim that the agreement was “unfair” to the U.S. Each country’s target for cutting emissions is voluntary; Trump, in other words, could essentially have negotiated with himself, making the U.S. target less ambitious while remaining in the accord.

Trump made a series of inaccurate assertions to justify his decision, falsely claiming, for example, that the accord required the U.S. to eliminate coal production while allowing India to expand its coal production. His rhetoric was aimed at the heartland voters uneasy about the decline of traditional manufacturing and mining.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” he said.

At the very least, the decision signals a major shift in the U.S. approach to international relations.

Using the kind of nationalist language favoured by his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, Trump called the move a “reassertion of American sovereignty.”

His critics in both parties called it evidence of a retreat from America’s traditional position of world leadership.

The withdrawal is part of a wide-ranging Trump effort to undo the legacy of Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, who released a statement critical of the move before Trump had finished speaking.

“I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack,” Obama said. “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.”

Countries’ pledges under the agreement were already far from sufficient to meet the Paris goal of keeping global temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the world’s somewhat arbitrary “magic number” for avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

But Obama and other supporters argued that it laid the foundation for future action.

Trump has never publicly accepted the fact that global temperatures are rising, let alone the scientific consensus that humans are the main reason for this. White House officials refused after the speech to discuss Trump’s current beliefs, calling questions on the subject “off topic.”

Many of Trump’s own aides and advisers, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, had urged him to stay in the agreement.

So had numerous world leaders, Trudeau among them.

In the end, Trump sided with the nationalist faction of his administration, with congressional Republicans and with Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt.

Trump had also faced anti-Paris pressure from some companies in the coal industry he has vowed to revive. Dozens of other big corporations, however, had lobbied Trump to stay, saying the accord was the best way to encourage the U.S. to build a “low-carbon economy” and to allow the U.S. to shape future policy to its advantage.

Even oil giants such as ExxonMobil supported the pact.

“Disappointed with today’s decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government,” General Electric chief executive Jeff Immelt said on Twitter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Disney CEO Robert Iger resigned from Trump advisory groups in response to his move.

Trump said the U.S. would “continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country on Earth,” but he did not set any new goals.

Trudeau, who spoke to Trump by phone on Thursday, said Canada will continue to work on climate change with U.S. state governments and “other U.S. stakeholders.”

“We will also continue to reach out to the U.S. federal government to discuss this matter of critical importance for all humankind, and to identify areas of shared interest for collaboration, including on emissions reductions,” he said in the statement.

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