Wall Street Journal report puts focus back on climate accord
If the emissions reduction targets for the United States are weakened in the Paris Agreement on climate change, then the U.S. could stay in the deal, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Face The Nation Sunday. He said President Donald Trump feels the U.S. commitments to the agreement — in which each country sets its own commitments and there’s no punishment for not following through with them — are too strict.
“We are willing to work with partners in the Paris climate accord, if we can construct a set of terms that we believe is fair and balanced from the American people and recognizes our economy and our economic interest,” Tillerson said, noting the difference in commitments between the U.S. and China is a sticking point. “If you look at those targets in terms of the Paris climate accords, they were really out of balance for the world’s two largest economies,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday (link) that Trump was not going to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, which both the White House and national security adviser H.R. McMaster called a false story. However, Tillerson seemed to be closer to agreeing with WSJ’s account. “Under the right conditions, the president said he’s open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others in what we all agree is a challenging issue,” he said.
The WSJ report (updated to reflect a White House statement) said the U.S. position on reviewing the terms of its participation in the landmark accord came during a meeting of more than 30 ministers led by Canada, China and the European Union in Montreal. In June, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would withdraw from the deal unless it could find more favorable terms. “U.S. officials in Montreal, led by White House senior adviser Everett Eissenstat, broached revising U.S. climate-change goals, two participants said, signaling a compromise that would keep the U.S. at the table even if it meant weakening the international effort. Still, the move would maintain international unity behind the painstakingly negotiated Paris accord, after Trump suggested he might seek a new agreement,” according to the WSJ article. “The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement,” European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said.
In a statement Saturday afternoon, a White House spokeswoman said the administration’s position on Paris had not changed, but also noted that the president’s stance on withdrawing from the deal had never been set in stone. “There has been no change in the U.S.’s position on the Paris agreement,” said deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters. “As the president has made abundantly clear, the U.S. is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.”
“We are pleased the U.S. continues to engage and recognize the economic opportunity of clean growth, including clean energy,” said Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in a statement to the WSJ.
