President Trump said he would decide sometime next week on whether the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. He had met with world leaders earlier this week at the G7 Summit, where a group of 7 industrialized democracies come together annually to discuss issues such as global economic governance, international security, and energy policy. The U.S. did not participate in the climate part of the meetings this year.
I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
Intense debates and lobbying occurred over the weekend at the summit, trying to convince Trump to commit to the agreement, but it ended unresolved. “The president’s only been in office for a certain period of time, and they respect that,” said Gary D. Cohn, the director of the National Economic Council. He added: “We’re all allies. We’re all trying to get to the right place and be respectful of each other.”
The other 6 countries at the summit agreed to continue cutting greenhouse-gas emissions.
“It seems President Trump is seeking to build the kind of suspense that is usually reserved for reality shows,” Heather Coleman, climate and energy director at the charity giant Oxfam America, told HuffPost by email on Saturday morning. “Climate change is not a TV show, it is and will continue to have devastating consequences for all of us on this planet, especially the poorest and most vulnerable among us.”
During his campaigning, Trump had assured supporters he would rip up the agreement if elected.
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