Trump cedes climate policy leadership to Xi with Paris accord exit

HONG KONG (June 2): President Donald Trump’s decision to quit the Paris accord has just handed China’s President Xi Jinping a golden opportunity to burnish his country’s image as a clean-energy innovator and global leader in the drive to avoid possible future catastrophic climate change.

Trump’s move to pull the US out of the almost 200-nation deal, which risks undermining the commitment of other countries to limit fossil-fuel emissions, has drawn sharp criticism from key American allies across Europe and Asia. But Trump, in a speech Thursday at the White House, said the accord undermined US interests, sent taxpayer money abroad and didn’t require enough from other nations, singling out China and India.

“This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the US,” Trump said, making good on a campaign pledge last year to “cancel” participation in the agreement. The landmark deal sealed in 2015 brought together the US and European Union, as well as big developing nations like China, India and Brazil, in pledging limits on fossil-fuel pollution and funds to help poorer countries adapt to climate change.

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