President Trump expected to withdraw from Paris agreement

President Trump expected to withdraw from Paris agreement
US President Donald Trump looks on upon his arrival at EU headquarters ahead of a meeting with European Council President, as part of the NATO meeting, in Brussels, on May 25, 2017. (Photo credit: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, a White House official said Wednesday.

But there may be “caveats in the language” that Trump uses to announce the withdrawal, leaving open the possibility that the decision isn’t final, according to the official, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the decision before the official announcement.

Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning: “I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Nearly 200 nations, including the United States under President Barack Obama’s administration, agreed in 2015 to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.

During Trump’s overseas trip last week, European leaders pressed him to keep the U.S. in the pact.

Trump had promised during his presidential campaign to pull the U.S. out of the deal.

Word of Trump’s decision comes a day after the president met with Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Like his boss, Pruitt has questioned the consensus of climate scientists that the Earth is warming and that man-made climate emissions are to blame.

Since taking office, Trump and Pruitt have moved to delay or roll back federal regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions while pledging to revive the long-struggling U.S. coal mines.

What is not yet clear is whether Trump plans to initiate a formal withdrawal from the Paris accord, which under the terms of the agreement could take three years, or exit the underlying U.N. climate change treaty on which the accord was based.

The U.S. is the world’s second largest emitter of carbon, following only China.

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