TRANSCRIPT: Tossing Obama’s signature on the Paris
Climate Accord.
June
01, 2017
Statement by President Trump on the
Paris Climate Accord
Rose
Garden 3:32 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. I would like to begin by addressing the terrorist attack in Manila.
We’re closely monitoring the situation, and I will continue to give
updates if anything happens during this period of time. But it is really
very sad as to what’s going on throughout the world with terror. Our
thoughts and our prayers are with all of those affected.
Before we discuss the Paris Accord, I’d like
to begin with an update on our tremendous -- absolutely tremendous -- economic progress since Election Day on
November 8th. The economy is starting to come back, and very,
very rapidly. We’ve added $3.3 trillion in stock market value to our
economy, and more than a million private sector jobs. [Still, 94million not in the workforce; come
on, Republicans! Get with the program!!]
I have just returned from a trip overseas
where we concluded nearly $350
billion of military and economic development for the United States,
creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. It was a very, very successful
trip, believe me. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
In my meetings
at the G7, we have taken historic steps to demand fair and reciprocal trade that gives Americans a level
playing field against other nations. We’re also working very hard for peace in the Middle East, and
perhaps even peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Our attacks on terrorism are greatly
stepped up -- and you see that, you see it all over -- from the previous
administration, including getting many
other countries to make major contributions to the fight against terror.
Big, big contributions are being made by countries that weren’t doing so
much in the form of contribution.
One by one, we are keeping the promises I made to the American people during my
campaign for President –- whether it’s cutting job-killing regulations; appointing and confirming a tremendous Supreme Court justice;
putting in place tough new ethics
rules; achieving a record reduction
in illegal immigration on our southern border; or bringing jobs,
plants, and factories back
into the United States at numbers which no one until this point thought even
possible. And believe me, we’ve just begun.
The fruits of our labor will be seen very shortly even more so.
On these issues and so many more, we’re
following through on our commitments. And I don’t want anything to get in
our way. I am fighting every day for the great people of this country.
Therefore, in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its
citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord -- (applause) --
thank you, thank you -- but begin
negotiations to reenter either the Paris Accord or a really entirely new
transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its
workers, its people, its taxpayers. So we’re getting out. But we
will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair.
And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine.
(Applause.)
As President, I can put no other consideration before the wellbeing of American
citizens. The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of
Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to
the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers -- who I
love -- and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages,
shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.
Thus, as of today, the United States will
cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris Accord and the draconian
financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country. This
includes ending the
implementation of the nationally determined contribution and, very importantly,
the Green Climate Fund which is
costing the United States a vast fortune.
Compliance with the terms of the Paris
Accord and the onerous energy restrictions it has placed on the United States
could cost America as much as 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025 according to the
National Economic Research Associates. This includes 440,000 fewer
manufacturing jobs -- not what we need -- believe me, this is not what we need
-- including automobile jobs, and the further decimation of vital American
industries on which countless communities rely. They rely for so much,
and we would be giving them so little.
According to this same study, by 2040,
compliance with the commitments put into place by the previous administration
would cut production for the following sectors: paper down 12 percent;
cement down 23 percent; iron and steel down 38 percent; coal -- and I happen to
love the coal miners -- down 86 percent; natural gas down 31 percent. The cost to the economy at this time
would be close to $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million industrial jobs,
while households would have $7,000 less income and, in many cases, much worse
than that.
Not only does this deal subject our citizens
to harsh economic restrictions, it fails to live up to our environmental
ideals. As someone who cares deeply about the environment, which I do, I
cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States --
which is what it does -– the world’s
leader in environmental protection, while imposing no meaningful
obligations on the world’s leading polluters.
For example, under the agreement, China will be able to increase
these emissions by a staggering number of years -- 13. They can do whatever
they want for 13 years. Not us. India
makes its participation contingent on receiving billions and billions and billions of dollars in foreign aid from
developed countries. There are many other examples. But the bottom line is that the
Paris Accord is very unfair, at the highest level, to the United States.
Further, while the current agreement
effectively blocks the development of clean coal in America -- which it does,
and the mines are starting to open up. We’re having a big opening
in two weeks. Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, so many places. A
big opening of a brand-new mine. It’s unheard of. For many, many
years, that hasn’t happened. They
asked me if I’d go. I’m going to try.
China will be allowed to build hundreds of additional coal plants.
So we can’t build the plants, but they can, according to this agreement.
India will be allowed to double its coal production by 2020. Think
of it: India can double
their coal production. We’re supposed to get rid of ours. Even
Europe is allowed to continue construction of coal plants.
In short, the agreement doesn’t eliminate
coal jobs, it just transfers those jobs out of America and the United States,
and ships them to foreign countries.
This
agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a
financial advantage over the United States. 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. A cynic would say the
obvious reason for economic competitors and their wish to see us remain in the
agreement is so that we continue to suffer this self-inflicted major economic
wound. We would find it very hard to compete with other countries from
other parts of the world.
We
have among the most abundant energy reserves on the planet, sufficient to lift millions of America’s poorest workers
out of poverty. Yet, under this agreement, we are effectively putting
these reserves under lock and key, taking away the great wealth of our nation
-- it's great wealth, it's phenomenal wealth; not so long ago, we had no idea
we had such wealth -- and leaving millions and millions of families trapped in
poverty and joblessness.
The agreement is a massive redistribution of
United States wealth to other countries. At 1 percent growth, renewable
sources of energy can meet some of our domestic demand, but at 3 or 4 percent growth, which I expect, we
need all forms of available American energy, or our country -- (applause)
-- will be at grave risk of brownouts and blackouts, our businesses will come
to a halt in many cases, and the American
family will suffer the consequences in the form of lost jobs and a very
diminished quality of life.
Even if the Paris Agreement were implemented
in full, with total compliance from all nations, it is estimated it would only produce a two-tenths of one degree
-- think of that; this much -- Celsius reduction in global temperature by the year 2100. Tiny,
tiny amount. In fact, 14 days of carbon emissions from China
alone would wipe out the gains from America -- and this is an incredible
statistic -- would totally wipe out the gains from America's expected
reductions in the year 2030, after we have had to spend billions and billions
of dollars, lost jobs, closed factories, and suffered much higher energy costs
for our businesses and for our homes.
[Pause and think of that! 14days
of China polluting vs 0.2 degrees by 2100 !!!]
As the Wall Street Journal wrote this
morning: “The reality is that withdrawing is in
America’s economic interest and won’t matter much to the climate.” The United States, under the Trump administration,
will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country on
Earth. We'll be the cleanest. We're going to have the cleanest air.
We're going to have the cleanest water. We will be environmentally
friendly, but we're not going to put our businesses out of work and we're not
going to lose our jobs. We're going to grow; we're going to grow rapidly.
(Applause.)
And I think you just read -- it just came
out minutes ago, the small business report -- small businesses as of just now
are booming, hiring people. One of the best reports they've seen in many
years.
I’m willing to immediately work with
Democratic leaders to either negotiate our way back into Paris, under the terms
that are fair to the United States and its workers, or to negotiate a new deal that protects our country and its taxpayers.
(Applause.)
So if the obstructionists want to get together with me, let’s make them
non-obstructionists. [ED: This is good humor!] We will all sit down, and
we will get back into the deal. And we’ll make it good, and we won’t be
closing up our factories, and we won’t be losing our jobs. And we’ll sit
down with the Democrats and all of the people that represent either the Paris
Accord or something that we can do
that's much better than the Paris Accord. [ED: Sentence could be better but you
get the point. New York positive
attitude: take Trump seriously!]
And I think the people of our country
will be thrilled, and I think then the people of the world will be thrilled.
But until we do that, we're out of the agreement.
I will work
to ensure that America remains the world’s
leader on environmental issues, but under a framework that is fair and
where the burdens and responsibilities are equally shared among the many
nations all around the world.
No responsible leader can put the workers --
and the people -- of their country at this debilitating and tremendous
disadvantage. The fact that the Paris deal hamstrings the United States,
while empowering some of the world’s top polluting countries, should dispel any
doubt as to the real reason why foreign lobbyists wish to keep our magnificent
country tied up and bound down by this agreement: It’s to give their
country an economic edge over the United States. That's not going to
happen while I’m President. I’m sorry. (Applause.)
My job as President is to do everything
within my power to give America a level
playing field and to create the economic,
regulatory and tax
structures that make America the most prosperous and
productive country on Earth, and with the highest standard of living and
the highest standard of environmental protection.
Our tax
bill is moving along in Congress, and I believe
it’s doing very well. I think a lot of people will be very pleasantly surprised.
The Republicans are working very, very hard. [They had better! Use the 51-vote rule.] We’d love to have support from the
Democrats, but we may have to go it alone. But it’s going very well.
The Paris Agreement handicaps the United
States economy in order to win praise from the very foreign capitals and global
activists that have long sought to gain wealth at our country’s expense.
They don’t put America first.
I do, and I always will. (Applause.)
The same nations asking us to stay in the
agreement are the countries that have collectively cost America trillions of dollars through tough trade practices
and, in many cases, lax contributions to our critical military alliance.
You see what’s happening. It’s pretty obvious to those that want to
keep an open mind.
At what point does America get demeaned?
At what point do they start
laughing at us as a country? We want fair treatment for its
citizens, and we want fair treatment for our taxpayers. We don’t want
other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t
be. They won’t be.
I was
elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. (Applause.) I promised I would exit or
renegotiate any deal which fails to serve America’s interests. Many trade
deals will soon be under renegotiation. Very rarely do we have a deal
that works for this country, but they’ll soon be under renegotiation. The
process has begun from day one. But now
we’re down to business.
Beyond the severe energy restrictions
inflicted by the Paris Accord, it includes yet another scheme to redistribute
wealth out of the United States through the so-called Green Climate Fund -- nice name -- which calls for developed
countries to send $100 billion to
developing countries all on top of America’s existing and massive foreign aid
payments. So we’re going to be paying billions
and billions and billions of dollars, and we’re already way ahead of anybody else.
Many of the other countries haven’t spent anything, and many of them will
never pay one dime.
The Green Fund would likely obligate the
United States to commit potentially tens of billions of dollars of which the
United States has already handed over $1 billion -- nobody else is even close;
most of them haven’t even paid anything -- including funds raided out of
America’s budget for the war against terrorism. That’s where they came.
Believe me, they didn’t come from me. They came just before I came
into office. Not good. And not good the way they took the money.
In 2015, the United Nation's departing top
climate officials reportedly described the $100 billion per year as “peanuts,”
and stated that "the $100 billion is the tail that wags the dog."
In 2015, the Green Climate Fund’s executive director reportedly stated
that estimated funding needed would increase to $450 billion per year after
2020. And nobody even knows where the money is going to.
Nobody has been able to say, where is it going to?
Of course, the world’s top polluters have no
affirmative obligations under the Green Fund, which we terminated. America is $20 trillion in debt.
Cash-strapped cities cannot hire enough police officers or fix vital
infrastructure. Millions of our citizens are out of work. And yet,
under the Paris Accord, billions of dollars that ought to be invested right
here in America will be sent to the very countries that have taken our
factories and our jobs away from us. So
think of that.
There
are serious legal and constitutional issues as well. Foreign leaders in Europe, Asia, and across the
world should not have more to say with respect to the U.S. economy than our own
citizens and their elected representatives. Thus, our withdrawal from the
agreement represents a reassertion of
America’s sovereignty. (Applause.) Our Constitution is unique among all the nations of the world,
and it is my highest obligation and greatest honor to protect it. And I
will.
Staying in the agreement could also pose
serious obstacles for the United States as we begin the process of unlocking
the restrictions on America’s
abundant energy reserves, which we have started very strongly. It
would once have been unthinkable that an international agreement could prevent
the United States from conducting its own domestic economic affairs, but this
is the new reality we face if we do not leave the
agreement or if we do not negotiate a far better deal.
[Mitt Romney asked Trump to stay in—but how
is that ‘negotiating’?]
The risks grow as historically these
agreements only tend to become more and more ambitious over time. In
other words, the Paris framework is a starting
point -- as bad as it is -- not an end point. And exiting
the agreement protects the United States from future intrusions on the United
States' sovereignty and massive future legal liability. Believe me, we
have massive legal liability if we stay in.
As President, I have one obligation, and
that obligation is to the American people. The Paris Accord would
undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty, impose
unacceptable legal risks, and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other
countries of the world. It is time to exit the Paris Accord -- (applause)
-- and time to pursue a new deal that protects the environment, our companies,
our citizens, and our country.
It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio, Detroit,
Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- along with many, many other locations
within our great country -- before Paris, France. It is time to make America great again. (Applause.)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Very important.
I’d like to ask Scott Pruitt, who most of you know and respect, as I do,
just to say a few words. [Bonding w/people, Trump repeats, “Thank you.]
Scott, please. (Applause.)
ADMINISTRATOR
PRUITT: Thank you, Mr. President. Your
decision today to exit the Paris Accord reflects your unflinching commitment to
put America first.
And by exiting, you're fulfilling yet one
more campaign promise to the American people. Please know that I am
thankful for your fortitude, your
courage, and your steadfastness as you serve and lead our country.
America finally has a leader who answers
only to the people -- not to the special interests who have had their way
for way too long. In everything you do, Mr. President, you're fighting
for the forgotten men and women across this country. You're a champion
for the hardworking citizens all across this land who just want a government
that listens to them and represents their interest.
You have promised to put America First in all that you do, and you've done that in any
number of ways -- from trade, to national security, to protecting
our border, to rightsizing Washington, D.C. And today
you've put America first with regard to international
agreements and the environment.
This is an historic restoration of American
economic independence -- one that will benefit the working class, the working
poor, and working people of all stripes. With this action, you have
declared that the people are rulers of this country once again. And it
should be noted that we as a nation do it better than anyone in the world in
striking the balance between growing our economy, growing jobs while also being
a good steward of our environment.
We owe no apologies to other nations for our
environmental stewardship. After all, before the Paris Accord was ever
signed, America had reduced its CO2 footprint to levels from the early 1990s.
In fact, between the years 2000 and 2014, the United States reduced its carbon emissions by 18-plus
percent. And this was accomplished not through government
mandate, but accomplished through innovation and technology of
the American private sector.
For that reason, Mr. President, you have corrected a view that was paramount in Paris
that somehow the United States should penalize its own economy, be apologetic,
lead with our chin, while the rest of world does little. Other nations
talk a good game; we lead with action -- not words. (Applause.)
Our efforts, Mr. President, as you know,
should be on exporting our technology, our innovation to nations who seek to
reduce their CO2 footprint to learn from us. That should be our focus
versus agreeing to unachievable targets that harm our economy and the American
people.
Mr. President, it takes courage, it takes
commitment to say no to the plaudits of men while doing what’s right by the
American people. You have that courage, and the American people can take
comfort because you have their backs.
Thank you, Mr. President. [Says Cabinet member Pruitt.]
NOTE: Vice
President Mike Pence did a great job
setting
the stage and introducing President Trump.
