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Donald Trump delays decision on climate change accord after deadlock with fellow G7 leaders in Italy
Donald Trump will decide whether to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on fighting global climate change next week, after resisting intense pressure from the rest of the Group of 7 countries not to abandon the deal.
The rest of the G7, including Britain, spent three days urging the President to stick with the accord, first in meetings in Brussels and then at a two-day summit in the clifftop town of Taormina in Sicily.
The President, who has previously described man-made climate change as “a hoax”, made the announcement in characteristic style – with a tweet. “I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!” he wrote, pre-empting the final communique issued by the G7 leaders at the conclusion of the summit.
Before leaving Sicily, Mr Trump told US service families he thought he had "hit a home run" everywhere he had visited during his nine-day tour.
Mr Trump also said his appeals to Nato allies to pay more was working. "Money is starting to flow in," he said. "It's only fair to the United States. We're behind Nato all the way. But we want to be treated fairly."
Gary Cohn, his chief economic adviser, said Mr Trump needed more time to weigh up the pros and cons of the climate change pact. “There was a very frank exchange of views but he’s not made a final decision on Paris,” Mr Cohn said. “He continues to study the issue. We had a very robust conversation.”
The White House characterised the President’s discussion on climate change with the leaders of Britain, Canada, Italy, Germany, France and Japan as “very constructive and warm”, but Angela Merkel called them a struggle.
"The entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very unsatisfactory," the German Chancellor said. “We have a situation of six against one. There are no indications whether the United States will stay in the Paris Agreement or not."
The rest of the G7, as well as the heads of the European Commission and the European Council, pledged in the summit declaration to “reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement,” leaving the US isolated.
“The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics,” the summit statement said.
Jennifer Morgan, executive director of Greenpeace International, said: “Europe, Canada and Japan stood up today and made a stand, revealing again how far Trump is out of step with the rest of the world on climate change.”
“It’s very good that the ‘G6’, if we can call them that, stood firm against the US on not watering down the Paris accord. We very much welcome that,” said Edmund Cairns from Oxfam GB. “We would far rather have this outcome than a damaging compromise.”
While there was a standoff on climate change, there was some compromise on global trade.
The final declaration said the G7 leaders were committed “to keep our markets open and to fight protectionism, while standing firm against all unfair trade practices.”
The final statement also recognised “the importance of the rules-based international trading system.”
On the campaign trail last year, Mr Trump threatened to slap unilateral tariffs on Mexican and Chinese goods and said he would quit the North American Free Trade agreement unless it is renegotiated.
This week he called Germany "very bad" on trade because its car exports had created a surplus with the United States.
The G7 leaders were heavily criticised by NGOs for failing to tackle the migration crisis, chaos in Libya and looming famines in Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen, where 20 million people are in danger of starvation as a result of conflicts and drought.
“It’s a big failure of leadership and a failure to protect vulnerable people who are suffering from drought, famine and conflict. If they can’t come together on something as devastating as this, then what are they here for?” said Chris Derksen Hiebert, director of policy for World Vision International.
“The G7 has taken positive action many times in the past but this year it looks like it’s been all about shaking hands, drinking wine and eating nice pasta, without achieving results.”