US President, Donald Trump Thursday, withdrew the country from the 2016 Paris Climate Deal.
Trump considers the deal as punitive to the US and the withdrawal is keeping with his widely received election campaign promise to "put America first."
The US is withdrawing from the Paris agreement on climate change, President Donald Trump has announced at a White House Rose Garden speech.
Before the announcement, Trump informed Congress about his decision preparing Republican legislators with arguments and lines to take in the face of an expected blowback.
Trump said it was his solemn duty to protect "America and its citizens" and that the US would "withdraw from the Paris climate accord, but begin negotiations to re-enter the Paris accord or a new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States".
He said: "So we are getting out, but we will start to negotiate and see if we can make a deal that's fair."
Trump described the Paris climate accord as an "agreement that is disadvantageous to the US to the exclusive benefits of other countries.”
The withdrawal also includes the cancellation of all US contributions to the Green Climate Fund, which Trump said was "costing the US a vast fortune".
According to the rules of the 2016 Paris deal, stepping out of its provisions will be a lengthy process that could take up to four years.
Trump said he could not "in good conscience support a deal that punishes the US and that poses no punishment for the world's great polluters".
Trump claimed "the nations asking us to stay in the agreement are the same nations that cost America trillions of dollars through unfair trade agreements, and the same that do not contribute to military alliances.
"At what point do they start laughing at us? I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not the citizens of Paris," he said.
Source: AlJazeera
