he president of the United States said Wednesday night that his country could finally return among the signatories of the Paris agreement on climate. He had yet announced the start, but it is not yet effective.
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the United States could “in theory” return to the Paris climate agreement, while giving no concrete sign that it intended to move in this direction at this stage. On June 1, he announced the withdrawal of his country from this agreement of which he was a signatory.
“Honestly, I have no problem with this agreement in absolute terms but I have a problem with the agreement they signed,” he said at a joint press conference with the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. “Because, as always, they concluded in bad agreement,” he added, referring to the administration of his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. “We could in theory return to it,” said Donald Trump, who in the past has already left the door ajar to a return in case of renegotiations on which he however still remained elusive.
A withdrawal that would take anyway several years
Reaffirming his belief that the Paris Agreement, as “signed” by his predecessor, was “very unfair to the United States”, the US President has long insisted on its negative economic impact for America . “We are a country rich in gas, coal and oil and many other things,” he said. The agreement was “bad for our companies,” he said, saying the US’s targets were too high compared to those of his Chinese rival.
In the words of the Trump administration, the withdrawal, which will take several years to become effective, will take place “unless the president identifies terms that are more favorable to US companies, workers and taxpayers.” However, the executive has never given more details on this rather vague formulation.
