« They can do whatever they want in 13 years, not us. » Not true.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday afternoon that the US will abandon the historic Paris climate agreement—promising to « begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States. »
In doing so, Trump characteristically railed against China—labeling it an economic foe and arguing it got the best end of the deal. « They can do whatever they want in 13 years, not us, » he said of China’s emissions plans. Casting the deal as an erosion of US sovereignty, Trump added that « the rest of the world applauded when we signed the Paris agreement. They went wild. They were so happy. For the simple reason that it put our country, the United States of America, which we all love, at a very, very big economic disadvantage. »
But here’s the reality: In the Paris agreement, China, for the first time, set a date at which it expects its climate emissions will « peak, » or finally begin to taper downward: around 2030. That goal came about after the US and China finally brokered a landmark bilateral climate deal in 2014 to work together. China has always argued it’s unfair for developed countries—who have already enjoyed the economic growth that comes with spewing carbon into the atmosphere—to curtail the growth of developing countries like China.
