Trump signs order to pull U.S. out of Paris Agreement

Posted by ThrowawayPrimavera

9 Comments

  1. Obama puts its left foot in, Trump takes its left foot out, Biden puts its left foot in, and Trump takes its left foot out, now we shake it all about. Do the hokey pokey and turn yourself about. That’s what American climate policy is all about.

  2. Expected, but still tragic. The UNFCCC has many flaws which are often highlighted, but the Paris Agreement has really helped set standards which help countries (and the actors within them) through the energy transition.

    This could have some short term benefit for the US, but I think this is bad for the country in the long term. China has basically cemented itself as the key trading partner for renewable and alternative energy (the EU obviously remains the most progressive major economy but doesn’t have the resources or manufacturing of China).

    More broadly, the US’ climate commitments comes across as unreliable to key partners. I don’t think climate policy was great even under Biden, but IMO this does damage that will still last if the Dems win the next election. The US will obviously still play a key role in climate tech/innovation and we’ll probably see states like California engage more directly with other countries, but it’s hard to see why anyone would bet on ambitious climate policy at the federal level.

    For someone who’s so vocally against China, it feels like Trump is giving allies as many reasons as possible to work with China over the US.

Leave A Reply