Donald Trump Walks Out Of Paris Climate Accord, Blames Unfair Advantage To India, China

In a major setback to the 2015 Paris Climate Accord which was aimed at combating global warming, one of the biggest stakeholders, the US has pulled out of the deal.

AP

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that Washington is pulling out of the widely-acclaimed climate change accord. Trump who had during his meeting with EU leaders last week gave indications of US pulling of the deal, made it official on Thursday.

Making the announcement, Trump claimed the accord favoured China and India and that his "solemn duty to protect America and its people".

Reuters

In his typical style, Trump laid some half-truths and completely wrong 'facts' to prove that countries like India and China are getting an unfair advantage, while the treatment his country, which incidentally is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases did not get a fair deal.

According to Trump India was demanding billions of foreign aid to conform to the deal, and claimed that the accord will allow India to double coal production by 2020.?

Reuters

He claimed that meeting the accord's greenhouse gas emission standards would cost the US close to $3 trillion in lost gross domestic product and 6.5 million industrial jobs, mostly in the mining sector.

Trump, who had during his presidential campaign called global warming a 'Chinese hoax' had promised to walk out of the deal signed by his predecessor if elected. The withdrawal make US just the third country in the world after Syria and Nicaragua who are not signatories of the historic deal.

Reuters

On Thursday President Trump said the US will seek to negotiate its way back or negotiate a new climate deal that is "fair" to America. This is unlikely to happen as other major stakeholders in the deal including China, Germany, France and Australia all have already said that there is no going back on the agreement.