Every nation, except for the U.S., reaffirmed the Paris climate accord at G-20 summit

World leaders came together to fight climate change, but President Trump once again refused to join them

Published July 8, 2017 11:44AM (EDT)

 (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that the G-20 summit achieved “good results in some areas.” But she also noted the impasse the group had with the United States over climate change. President Donald Trump once again refused to join the Paris climate agreement.

Merkel called discussions at the summit “difficult” and said that she "can only call things as they are.”

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, the hardline conservative and potential ally of Trump, had some harsh words for the U.S. as well.

"I am dismayed at U.S. decision to leave the Paris climate agreement. I urge President Trump to rejoin," May said at a press briefing Saturday.

Nineteen of the 20 member countries agreed to support the Paris climate agreement, the U.S. being the odd country left out.

Trump announced in early June that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the Paris agreement, a deal struck by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

The Trump administration has made the agreement a signifier of globalism, using it to enflame the culture war between liberals worried about the environment and conservatives who worry that the accord could hurt U.S. jobs.

survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 46 percent of Americans oppose withdrawing from the Paris climate accord while only 29 percent support doing so. Fifty-two percent are worried that leaving the accord will hurt America’s economy, with only 27 percent believing that it won’t have any impact for better or worse.


By Taylor Link

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Angela Merkel Climate Change Donald Trump G-20 Paris Climate Agreement Theresa May