Trump bullies California over climate deal with Quebec

To hear the justice department tell it, six years ago California announced it was going to violate the US constitution and nobody noticed until now. That, at least, is the argument President Donald Trump’s administration has made in a lawsuit that is part of its larger campaign to punish California for its climate leadership.

At issue is the deal California struck with Quebec in 2013, establishing a joint cap-andtrade programme. Negotiated with bipartisan support, the programme has reduced carbon emissions while adding billions to public coffers on both sides of the border. The carbon market it created has worked as intended, and others see it as a model.

Does creating a carbon market with a Canadian province amount to conducting “independent foreign policy ? That is the department’s claim: The pact, it says, is a treaty violating the US constitution. “California has veered outside its proper constitutional lane,”a department official said.

Few noticed this atrocity back in 2013. The state’s ban on foie gras was a bigger scandal. But it is no surprise it has burst into view now as the Trump administration lodges attack after attack after attack on California, many dubious, designed to keep it from setting environmental standards stricter than Washington’s.

The case reeks of bad faith. The crux of the department’s argument is that the pact “undermines the president’s ability to negotiate competitive agreements”. Trump has no plan to negotiate a better cap-andtrade deal. He just wants to shut this one down.

The court will decide whether the pact is an illegal treaty or a lawful memorandum of understanding, as its designers contend. If the administration wins, California and Quebec could continue to run their carbon markets independently a less efficient set-up that would raise costs for businesses and consumers.

But the greater danger is that the lawsuit will forestall other efforts by cities and states to co-operate in fighting climate change. Right now, with a federal government determined to make no such efforts, such deals are desperately needed.

Hundreds of cities have pledged to honour the Paris agreement on climate change, and states are banding together to cut emissions and push back against the administration’s overreach. They should keep it up. And California should be applauded for standing up to a climate bully.