Trump To Pull US Out Of Paris Climate Deal

President Trump has reportedly decided to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement, a White House official told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Trump is working with a small team of advisers led by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on the exact details of when and how the US would step away from the agreement before announcing his final decision, Axios reported.

The move would deal a massive blow to the legacy of his successor, President Obama, who viewed the historic climate accord that promised a 26 to 28 percent cut in the country’s emissions, to be among his greatest achievements.

The Hill adds:

Trump had been telling close confidants about his decision in recent weeks, Axios reported. But a public letter sent to him last week by 22 Senate Republicans, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), helped seal his decision.

The agreement was reached by nearly 200 countries in 2015, the first global climate accord to include that many nations. Each country made its own nonbinding pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

In the past, Trump has claimed that climate change was a scam invented by the Chinese.

The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012

He has also repeatedly called global warming a “hoax.”

Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2014