Trump To Pull Out of Paris Climate Change deal

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President Trump has decided to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement, according to a report Wednesday.

The decision, which will be announced this week, would put the US at odds with nearly every other nation on earth. It would reflect a major reversal of the Obama administration’s efforts on climate change. And it could trigger further efforts to erode the landmark climate agreement, CNN reports.

According to the New York Post, Trump had initially met with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on Tuesday and he and a small team of advisers are working out the details of when and how the US would step away from the agreement intended to curb carbon emissions worldwide.

Pruitt and the team are considering either a full, formal withdrawal; a process that could drag into three years or a clean break off from the agreement.

Trump had been telling confidants over the past week that he was going to pull out of the deal, a belief that was reinforced by a letter of support he received from 22 Republican senators.

But Ivanka Trump, the President’s top aide and daughter, pressed aides to look at the full picture when considering what withdrawal could mean. While Trump’s son-in-law and top aide, Jared Kushner, was said to be neutral on the deal.
Tillerson and Energy Secretary Rick Perry had both advised against leaving the deal while voices from outside the white house have urged him to keep to terms of the deal and stay with the accord. Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and founder of Tesla, tweeted earlier this month that he spoke with Trump about sticking with the deal.
Obama and a host of other countries signed the climate change agreement in 2015 and the former president touted it as the “best chance we have” to save the planet.
But Republicans have slammed the climate deal and Trump joined the chorus when he ran for president.
Trump said he would “cancel” the deal on the campaign trial and his campaign’s energy plan included a pledge to “cancel the Paris climate agreement and stop all payments of US tax dollars to UN global warming programs.”

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