On Tuesday , Donald Trump made a grand show ofbeing presidential for the cameras . But on Wednesday , he was back to babble like a grandpa who watch too much Fox News ( which he in fact is ) when Norway ’s prime minister visited the White House . During their joint press conference , a newsperson asked aboutthe Paris Agreement . The consequence was the usual Trumpian word salad that grass a strong ignorance about the world ’s main mood deal and where the U.S. stands .
Take a face if you do n’t mind turn a loss 90 mo of your life you may never get back :
Pres . Trump say Paris climate deal " as drawn … was very unjust to the United States , " but " we could conceivably go back in . “https://t.co / NkJuIoh4fPpic.twitter.com / yOxUPuB9z7
— ABC News ( @ABC)January 10 , 2018
countenance ’s unpack the statement that ’s creditworthy for these dumb headlines :
It treated the United States very bad , and frankly , it ’s an understanding that I have no problem with , but I had a problem with the correspondence that they signed , because as common , they made a bad deal . So we could conceivably go back in .
The prexy does not have a trouble with an agreement that he has a problem with . Uh , okay ?
But about that getting back in part . Not to get all “ really ☝ ️ , ” but the president has already announce his intent to withdraw the U.S. from the concord . The earliest this can bump is Nov. 3 , 2020 ( also election 24-hour interval so mark you calendars ! ) . In short : the U.S. is not officially out yet .
There has been no pivot man to indorse good climate policies in the first twelvemonth of the Trump governance and I sincerely doubt there ’s any pivot coming over the next three yr .
And what about that part about being “ very unjust to the United States ? ” Yeah , it ’s every bit mistaken .
Every 👏 country 👏 select 👏 its 👏 own 👏 commitment 👏 to 👏 the 👏 arrangement . The U.S. made a pledge ground on “ common but differentiated responsibilities , ” a construct that undergirds all late climate negotiations . It is a premise the Trump administration is completely unaware of or willfully ignoring when it discuss the Paris Agreement .
In a nutshell : each country commits to what it can feasibly do , recognizing rich rural area that have historically foul a quite a little and gotten robust off said defilement ( like , you know , the U.S. ) have a bigger responsibility to handle clime change than poorer countries ( who it also should be add , will suffer the most ) . This is not hard to read . And once you compass this unproblematic construct , it is absolved why China has committed to peak its carbon copy emissions in 2030 at the late while the U.S. under the Obama disposal commit to reduce its emission 17 percentage below 2005 floor by 2020 .
It is also not arduous to empathize that all the commitment on the Paris Agreement are not enough action and the finish is ratchet up the ambitions in the future . The irony is that in defending his aim to leave behind the Paris Agreement , Trump argued in particularly higgledy-piggledy fashion exactly this percentage point :
“ As an good example , China , by 2030 , they do n’t kick in until 2030 . Russia , some place in the mid-1990s that was their standard and that was never a salutary standard because that was a dirty standard for the surround . ”
This is all true ! We all need to do more ( especially Russia who has anextremely drivel pledge ) ! But by trying to back out of the agreement and set about to grasp up , burn , or export every last drop of rock oil and number of coal under U.S. soil , Trump is ensuring the precise opposite termination .
There ’s more dirt about how it would injure the economy and “ some estimates ” that we would ’ve had to close businesses to follow with the concord , which lol wut . Trump alsomarveled at Norway ’s hydropowerand wish the U.S. , which gets more than 6 percent of its electricity from hydro , had more of it .
At every go , Trump ’s reply underline how short he understands climate skill , international policy , and the U.S. vim system . unluckily , that ’s not really news .
Climate changeDonald TrumpGlobal warmingParis Agreement
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