Washington, Dec 6: US President Donald Trump has reiterated the futility of US rejoining the Paris climate agreement, saying that doing so would give an advantage to Russia and China.
While speaking at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia on Saturday Trump said the US would have had to contribute astronomical sums of money if it remained a part of the agreement
“The Paris Environmental Accord. I said, I’m gonna get killed in this one. But we would’ve paid trillions and trillions of dollars. Russia has a big advantage over us, they go back to old days when the air was very dirty, that was their standard. China doesn’t kick in until 2030, we kick in immediately, and the money that wouldn’t have cost us,”
Trump claimed that if the US were to re-enter the Paris climate accord, 20 percent of US factories would have to shut down.
In 2017, Trump announced that the US was exiting the UN-brokered Paris climate agreement, a move that officially took effect on November 4 this year. Joe Biden has promised to recommit the US to the pact.
In November, former US Secretary of State and newly-appointed Biden administration climate envoy, John Kerry, pointed out that the international community must raise its ambition in fighting global environmental problems because the Paris Agreement alone cannot end the crisis.
