WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump is expected to announce his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, published reports claimed on Wednesday (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-plans-withdraw-paris-climate-deal-article-1.3209157).
The agreement, which was entered in to by the Obama administration in 2015, was the crown jewel of climate change believing Democrats because it would have forced the U.S. to reduce fossil fuel emissions by nearly 30 percent by the year 2025.
During the president’s trip abroad last week, European leaders reportedly pressured him to honor the previous administration’s agreement, but the pleas fell on deaf ears according to administration sources.
“I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the president, who repeatedly vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the deal throughout his presidential campaign tweeted on Wednesday.
However, not everyone inside the Trump administration believes pulling out of the agreement, which was signed by nearly 200 other countries, is the right choice.
Elon Musk, who currently serves as an adviser to the president on the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategic and Policy Forum, announced on Wednesday that he will resign if the president decides to withdraw.
“[I] don’t know which way Paris will go,” Musk tweeted (https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/869970236669177856), “but I’ve done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain.”
When asked what his response will be should the president decide to withdraw from the agreement, Musk responded, “will have no choice but to depart councils in that case.”
Nick Burns, who served as a high ranking adviser in the George W. Bush’s administration, also went public on Wednesday with his concerns.
“This would be a colossal mistake,” said Burns. “It would also devastate our international credibility. We are one of the two largest carbon emitters, with China. We are the ones who put this deal together. It is the first step to try to do something about climate change. For President Trump to take us out, it is anti-science.”
Regardless of the push back, sources close to the president say he will not be pressured into making a decision he believes is economically bad for the country just for the sake of popularity.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Sean Spicer said he wasn’t at liberty to say whether or not the president had made a final decision on withdrawing from the Paris agreement.
“I obviously don’t know whether he’s made it,” Spicer said during an afternoon briefing. “When the President has a decision he will make that announcement and he will make it clear what the basis of that is.”
