Trump to pull out of Paris deal, official says

President’s advisers are split on decision that could heavily impact relations with allies

WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from a landmark global climate agreement, a White House official said Wednesday, though Trump and aides were looking for “caveats in the language” related to the exit and had not made a final decision.

Leaving the deal would fulfil a central campaign pledge, but would anger international allies who spent years in negotiations to produce an accord to reduce carbon emissions.

Trump faced considerable pressure to hold to the deal during visits with European leaders and Pope Francis on his recent trip abroad. The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the decision before the official announcement, said the president and his aides were finalizing the details of a withdrawal.

Trump himself tweeted that “I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days.”

While Trump currently favours an exit, he has been known to change his thinking on major decisions and tends to seek counsel from a range of inside and outside advisers, many with differing agendas. A second White House official, who was not authorized to discuss private conversations and also insisted on ano- nymity, said Trump had not made a final decision on how to proceed.

Trump’s top aides have been divided on the accord. He was to meet Wednesday with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has favoured remaining in the agreement. Chief strategist Steve Bannon supports an exit, as does Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt. Senior adviser Jared Kushner generally thinks the deal is bad, but would like to find a way to see if U.S. emissions targets can be changed.

Trump’s influential daughter Ivanka Trump’s preference is to stay, but she made it a priority to establish a review process so her father heard from all sides, said one of the officials.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says the Canadian govern- ment remains committed to the Paris Accord. She says no one government can stop the momentum toward tackling climate change, adding Canada will continue “marching on.”

Last week in Germany, McKenna met with Chinese special envoy for climate change Xie Zhenhua and European Union environment commissioner Karmenu Vella, where they discussed jointly hosting a meeting of environment ministers this fall to chart a path for implementing Paris among the world’s major economies. It very likely will take place in Canada, around the same time as the United Nations General Assembly, which starts in New York City on Sept. 12. Currently the U.S. is not part of that group.

“Canada is going to show leader- ship with China and the EU and we certainly hope the U.S. will be joining us,” McKenna said.

McKenna said the rest of the world won’t sit and wait for Trump.

“I think there is a general sense that it would be better for the U.S. to be part of the discussions and to be at the table, but that’s a decision for the United States to make,” she said.

Nearly 200 nations, including the United States under former president Barack Obama’s administration, agreed in 2015 to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change. Withdrawing would leave the United States aligned only with Russia among the world’s industrialized economies.