U.S. President Donald Trump walks beside Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel (R) upon arriving at the Brussels Airport, in Brussels, Belgium, May 24, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)
President Donald J. Trump announced in the Rose Garden that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. The President said he is willing to work on a new deal with the world, and even with Democrats in Washington, but cannot allow this deal to stand because it disadvantages American workers and businesses.
“One-by-one, we are keeping our promises made to the American people,” President Trump said. “I don’t want anything to get in our way. I’m fighting everyday for the great men and women of this country. Therefore, in order to keep my solemn promise, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.”
“But we will start to negotiate for terms that are fair to the people of the country, its workers, its citizens.”
He went on to cite numerous terms of the Paris Agreement that punishes the United States while giving the world’s greatest polluters a pass. China doesn’t have to comply with any of the terms for at least 13 years and India makes it’s participation contingent upon receiving billions in foreign aide from developed countries.
“The bottom line the Paris Accord is very unfair to the United States,” he said. “It fails to live up to our environmental ideals. As someone who cares deeply about our environment, which it does, I cannot in good conscience allow such a deal that punishes the United States while allowing the world’s greatest polluters to get a pass.”
Meanwhile, according to the National Economic Research Associates, compliance with the terms of the Paris Accord could cause Americans 2.7 million jobs and “thousands of manufacturing jobs, automobile jobs and the further decimation of vital American industries on which countless communities rely.”
“As of today, the United States will cease all implementation of the Paris Accord,” President Trump said. “This includes ending the implementations the Nationally Determined Contribution and, very importantly, the Green Climate Fund.”
Overall, the cost to the economy during implementation of the agreement would be close to 3 trillion to GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs, while households would have $7,000 less in income. The President rattled off a litany of damage to the production sector cited by the study: paper, down 12%; cement, down 23%; iron and steel, down 38%; coal, down 86%; natural gas, down 31%.
He said the deal would put the U.S. at “great risk of blackouts and brown outs and the American family will suffer.”
He spoke of a new clean coal mine in West Virginia, which would be shut down by the deal, while China would be allowed to continue to open and develop mines and plants. India will double coal production.
“No responsible leader can put the workers and the people of this country at such a debilitating disadvantage,” President Trump said. “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. I promised I would exit or renegotiate any deal that does not serve their interest.”
“It’s time to put Youngstown, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania before Paris, France.”
“The American people and the wider world will see again our President is choosing to put the forgotten men and women first.” – Vice President Mike Pence
