Trump Takes U.S. out of Paris Climate Accord: ‘I was Elected to Represent Citizens of Pittsburgh, Not Paris’

Veronica Neffinger | iBelieve Contributor | Updated: Jun 02, 2017

Trump Takes U.S. out of Paris Climate Accord: ‘I was Elected to Represent Citizens of Pittsburgh, Not Paris’

Strong reactions from around the world followed President Trump’s decision to take the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord.

Fox News reports that the President made the announcement yesterday in the White House Rose Garden.

Although stating that he would be pulling the U.S. out of the climate agreement, Trump also left the door open to later renegotiate the deal with the U.S. again involved.

The President’s decision to take the U.S. out of the climate change agreement is consistent with a campaign promise he had made to support blue collar workers in the U.S., including those working in the struggling coal industry.

To this end, Trump noted that the Paris deal “handicaps” the American economy by fostering a “massive redistribution of wealth” from workers in America to other countries.

Many influential people urged Trump not to pull out of the agreement. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and a member of Trump’s business advisory council, announced that he would be quitting the council after the President went through with the decision to leave the Paris Accord.

"Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world," Musk tweeted after Trump’s Rose Garden announcement.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), called the decision “a huge mistake” and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) stated, "The rest of the world no longer respects the U.S. This is the biggest issue in the world to most of the countries who have signed this agreement. They expect the U.S. to be the leader, not the laggart."

However, in a statement consistent with his nationalistic versus globalistic tendencies, the President said, "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) agreed with Trump: “The Paris climate agreement was simply a raw deal for America. Signed by President Obama without Senate ratification, it would have driven up the cost of energy, hitting middle-class and low-income Americans the hardest," Ryan said.

 

Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

Publication date: June 2, 2017 



Trump Takes U.S. out of Paris Climate Accord: ‘I was Elected to Represent Citizens of Pittsburgh, Not Paris’