Europe and China unite to condemn Trump over climate deal

EU leaders hint at closer ties with Beijing as world rallies around pact

Peter Foster EUROPE EDITOR, Kate Mccann and Neil Connor in Beijing DONALD TRUMP faced a global tongue-lashing yesterday as big business and leaders in China and Europe united to condemn the US president for his decision to pull America out of the 2015 Paris climate accord.

In a sign of how Mr Trump’s nationalist vision is shaking old geopolitical assumptions, the leaders of the European Union and China, backed by India and Japan, announced they would fully implement the Paris deal despite Washington’s decision.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said after a Brussels summit with the Chinese premier Li Keqiang that the EU and China would “step up cooperation” on climate, adding that both sides were convinced the US decision was “a big mistake”.

Jean-claude Juncker, the European Commission president, said there were signs the US wanted to “untie itself from international connections”, a change that necessitated boosting the EU relationship with China.

International relations experts said China was seeking to capitalise on America’s self-imposed isolation, as China’s official media described Mr Trump’s decision as a “global setback” and accused the US of being “reckless” and “crippling the country’s world leadership”.

Eschewing direct attacks on Washington, Mr Li noted new globel “uncertainties” while reiterating that China was committed to the world “on the basis of the existing system” – in implicit contrast to Mr Trump’s “America First” approach to issues such as trade and climate.

Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, said the US stance was “extremely regrettable” and promised to press ahead with honouring German commitments to the deal. The pastor’s daughter said the accord was necessary “to preserve our Creation”, and protect “Mother Earth”.

Theresa May, the Prime Minister, and the leaders of Japan – key strategic allies of Washington – declined to criticise Mr Trump and sign a joint Italian-french-german statement condemning the White House.

However, out on the campaign trail, Mrs May denied she was “subservient” to the US leader, saying she had “made the UK’S position” clear to Mr Trump in a phone call on Thursday when she had stressed the UK’S ongoing commitment to the deal.

Mr Trump’s decision to quit the accord came despite the advice and pleading of European, Canadian and Japanese leaders and was also condemned in the US, including by leading voices in business, some of whom had supported the president.

Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and founder of Tesla cars, said on Twitter he was quitting Mr Trump’s advisory panels in protest.

Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, said the decision was “a setback for the environment and for the US’S leadership position in the world”.

In the end, the president was pushed over the edge by an encounter last week with Emmanuel Macron, the Washington Post reported, in which the French president tried to outmanoeuvre Mr Trump with a white-knuckled, six-second handshake.

Supporters of the deal in the US said industry and state governors would continue to push ahead with measures to cut carbon emissions.