Trump Withdraws US from Paris Climate Agreement for a Second Time

President Donald Trump has once again withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.

The move was among several executive orders Trump signed on Monday, shortly after being inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States.

He signed the orders during a gathering with supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

“I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair, one-sided Paris climate accord rip-off,” he said.

“The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity.”

The United States, the world’s largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, has once again exited the Paris Climate Agreement. With this move, the U.S. joins Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only nations outside the 2015 accord.

The Paris Agreement, signed by nearly 200 countries, aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

It also focuses on enhancing nations’ capacity to adapt to climate change while providing financial support to developing countries for mitigation and adaptation efforts.

In 2017, during Trump’s first tenure, he pulled the country out of the agreement, stating that the pact would “undermine” the US economy and put the country “at a permanent disadvantage”.

However, the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, which requires a one-year waiting period to take effect, originally came into force in 2020 during Trump’s first term. It was later reversed in 2021 when former President Joe Biden rejoined the accord.

In addition to exiting the agreement, Trump pledged to expand the fossil fuel industry with the slogan “drill, baby, drill,” effectively rolling back the clean energy initiatives implemented by the Biden administration.

The Biden administration had set a goal in December 2024 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 61 to 66 percent by 2035, aiming to strengthen the U.S.’s commitment to combating climate change.