President Trump withdraws US from climate change agreement

President Donald Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and will seek to negotiate a new deal.

"I have promised to withdraw from or renegotiate any deal that is not in America's interests,"AFPquoted US President Donald Trump said in a speech at the White House Rose Garden on June 1. "The United States will stop implementing the non-binding Paris Agreement, ending the financial and economic burden that this agreement creates for the United States."

The Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted by nearly 200 countries in France in December 2015. Countries agreed to cut CO2 and other emissions from burning fossil fuels to curb global temperature increases. Under the agreement, the US pledged to reduce emissions by 26-28% compared to 2005 levels by 2025.

President Trump argues that the Paris Agreement, signed under Barack Obama, gives other countries an advantage over American industry, destroying American jobs.

"I cannot support a deal that punishes the United States while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world's leading polluters," Trump said before specifically naming China and India.

Trump's decision has sparked outrage in the US and around the world. Former President Obama said the move means the US "is joining a group of countries that reject the future".

Germany said the US was "harming" the entire planet. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called Trump's decision a "serious mistake".

France, Germany and Italy defend the Paris Agreement, asserting that it cannot be renegotiated.

"We believe that the momentum created in Paris in December 2015 is irreversible. We are convinced that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated because it is a key document for our planet, our societies and our economies," the three leaders said in a joint statement.

According to VNE