Trump ensures US actions’ universal disapproval

In what surpasses all governmental catastrophic decisions across the world and puts the globe’s long-term survival under serious jeopardy, US President Donald Trump has announced that the US is withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord due to the “draconian financial and economic burdens” the agreement imposed on the US. He said the accord was not tough on India and China, and alleged that the deal was negotiated “poorly” by the Obama administration and signed out of “desperation”. “He added that India had made its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions of dollars from developed countries and claimed the current India will be allowed to double its coal production and so will China. This is preposterous. It is on record that India is slowing down its use of coal and is well on its way to becoming the world’s third largest solar-powered economy. India had submitted to the Agreement that it would reduce its emissions per unit of economic output by 33 to 35 per cent below 2005-level by 2030. The US, on the contrary, has been historically the biggest polluter for which it was rapped by country after country at the climate talks. From 1850 to 2010, India’s CO2 emissions have been one tenth that of the US and of the European countries. India and China therefore pitched for the US to compensate the world for the havoc that the world’s lone superpower wrought on the world.

“As of today (Friday), the US will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris accord,” Trump said in an address at the White House. With a whopping 195 nations having signed on to the historic Paris accord in a rare show of world solidarity to stave off ecological disaster, the accord signed during Barack Obama’s presidency was one of the most momentous measures in recent memory. Trump said the US will begin negotiations to re-enter the Paris Agreement “on terms that are fair to the US.” The influential New York Times described Trump’s decision as “stupid and reckless,” adding that it was the US’ dumbest act since launching the war in Iraq. In triggering the official withdrawal procedures, Trump has sparked a lengthy process that won't conclude until November 2020 – the same month he’s up for re-election, ensuring the issue becomes a major topic of debate in the next presidential contest. In his remarks, Trump said he was open to re-brokering US carbon reduction commitments, but didn’t express any urgency in bringing the US back into the deal.

In a fiery media address, President Trump emphasised he “represented the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris”, a departure from the usual image of the United States being the leader of the free world. Thanks to the greenhouse gases that have been poured into the atmosphere, the Arctic sea ice has vanished at a record pace. Droughts, flood and wildfires have been endemic and they can be directly attributed to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As for Donald Trump, he famously called global warming a hoax during the campaign, and still does. After Trump’s shocking statement, the leaders of France, Italy and Germany indicated in a joint statement that the US could not unilaterally renegotiate the agreement. The UN body that facilitated the deal said it “cannot be renegotiated based on the request of a single party.” But everyone knows that US is too powerful an entity to be ignored. Yet, Trump has ensured that the US would be frowned upon for its actions universally.