© CNN
It is now widely reported (
CNN,
Fox,
New York Times) that President Trump has decided to keep his
campaign promise to "cancel" America's participation in the Paris Climate Agreement. No public information is available at this time about the specific option Trump will select to withdraw from the Agreement, or what other related diplomatic or policy commitments he may make. But at this point no media reports contradict the basic story line that Trump has made his decision, and that it is to pull out.
The Paris Agreement was the capstone of President Obama's
climate action plan, the political strategy by which he intended to give the
Clean Power Plan and other legally dubious climate policies a treaty-like status, but without going through the constitutional treaty process.
By re-labeling his domestic climate agenda as commitments America made to the world, he tried to dictate U.S. energy policy for decades to come regardless of the preferences of future presidents, Congresses, and voters. It was a climate coup of breathtaking ambition, and the treaty's supporters at home and abroad did all they could to misdirect the debate and pressure Trump to break his campaign promise. President Trump kept an open mind, listened to all sides, and made the right decision for America and the world.
Exiting the Paris Climate Agreement overturns Obama's end run around the Constitution's treaty process, safeguards American democracy from foreign interference, dispels the Agreement's long shadow over the U.S. energy and manufacturing sectors, foils corporate schemes to enrich special interests at consumers and taxpayers' expense, and helps ensure developing countries will have the access to affordable energy they need to lift people out of poverty.
Comment: One could see this issue heating up since Trump's visit to Riyadh: