By Rich Heidorn Jr.

WASHINGTON — President Trump followed through on his campaign pledge to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change Thursday, a victory for economic nationalists and conservatives that prompted howls of outrage from other signatories, environmentalists and corporate leaders.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” said Trump, who complained the agreement would do little to combat global warming but would cost the U.S. millions of jobs and leave the nation unable to produce enough power to support economic growth of “3 to 4%” — a pace the country has rarely seen.

“At 3 or 4% economic growth — which I expect — we need all forms of American energy,” he said.

The U.S., the No. 2 producer of greenhouse gases after China, joins Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries not party to the 2015 agreement, which was largely brokered by the Obama administration and has been signed by more than 190 countries. The U.S. agreed to a nonbinding goal of cutting carbon emissions by at least 26% below 2005 levels by 2025.

Trump, who has previously called global warming a “hoax,” did not address climate science, instead saying the U.S. would remain the “cleanest, most environmentally friendly” nation in the world and would seek to negotiate a new deal that doesn’t penalize it. “We’ll see if we can make a deal that’s fair,” he said.

Trump said the Paris Agreement would hamstring the U.S. economy while allowing India and China to increase emissions for years. “China can do whatever they want for 13 years,” he said. “India can double its coal production. We’re supposed to get rid of ours.”

In rejecting the agreement, Trump said he was reasserting American sovereignty and undoing a “self-inflicted wound.”

“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 … in a very, very bad economic disadvantage.”

Speaking after the president, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt praised what he called “an historic restoration of American economic independence.”

“We owe no apologies to other nations for environmental stewardship. After all, before the Paris accord was ever signed America had reduced its CO₂ footprint to levels of the early 1990s,” he said, citing an 18% reduction in carbon emissions between 2000 and 2014. “This was accomplished not through government mandate but accomplished through the innovation and technology of the American private sector. … Other nations talk a good game. We lead with action, not words.”

Former President Barack Obama issued a statement rejecting Trump’s criticism. “It was steady, principled American leadership on the world stage that made [the agreement] possible. It was bold American ambition that encouraged dozens of other nations to set their sights higher as well. And what made that leadership and ambition possible was America’s private innovation and public investment in growing industries like wind and solar — industries that created some of the fastest new streams of good-paying jobs in recent years, and contributed to the longest streak of job creation in our history.

“The nations that remain in the Paris Agreement will be the nations that reap the benefits in jobs and industries created,” Obama continued. “I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack.”

Little Surprise

Although Trump said in November that he had an “open mind” on the subject, his announcement in the White House Rose Garden was not surprising given his campaign pledge and his executive order directing EPA to undo the Clean Power Plan.

The CPP would have required a 32% reduction in power plant CO₂ emissions from 2005 levels by 2030. (See Trump Order Begins Perilous Attempt to Undo Clean Power Plan.) The U.S. Energy Information Administration says emissions were 12% below the 2005 level as of 2015.

Opposition to the Paris Agreement was led within the administration by Pruitt and political aide Stephen Bannon, who were in the audience for the announcement along with about 100 Trump supporters, including members of the conservative Heritage Foundation and Competitive Enterprise Institute.

During his trip to Europe last week, Trump was lobbied by European officials and Pope Francis to honor the deal. Others who made their case to Trump for remaining included former Vice President Al Gore and leaders of dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

Thirty top CEOs, including Pacific Gas and Electric’s Geisha Williams, signed an open letter urging Trump to remain in the agreement, which they said would strengthen U.S. competitiveness, benefit American manufacturing and support investment “by setting clear goals which enable long-term planning.”

“It expands global and domestic markets for clean, energy-efficient technologies, which will generate jobs and economic growth. It encourages market-based solutions and innovation to achieve emissions reductions at low cost,” they said.

Also weighing in with support were Trump’s daughter Ivanka and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, neither of whom attended the announcement.

Trump’s speech started 30 minutes late, leaving the hundreds of reporters, photographers and guests sweltering in the sun as a military band played jazz.

Some analysts contend Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris Agreement and the CPP will have limited effect because of decarbonization efforts already adopted by power generators and others. (See Trump Policies Likely Little Help to Coal; May Aid China and EBA Panel: CPP’s Demise not Certain — and it Doesn’t Matter.) Economic consultancy company Rhodium Group estimates the U.S. would reduce carbon emissions by 21% below 2005 levels in 2025 under the CPP but that the reduction would flatten at 14% under Trump’s rollback.

Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Democratic Govs. Jay Inslee (Wash.), Jerry Brown (Calif.) and Andrew Cuomo (N.Y.) announced they had formed the U.S. Climate Alliance, a pact dedicated to upholding the country’s commitments under the agreement. On Monday, the group expanded to include Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.

More than 180 U.S. mayors — including Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and the chief executives of Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Philadelphia and Atlanta — issued a statement saying they would “adopt, honor and uphold the commitments” under the agreement.

The Paris Agreement is intended to prevent the planet’s temperature from increasing by more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, which many experts say would lead to an irreversible future of rising oceans and extreme weather, causing drought, flooding, and food and water shortages.

It will take the U.S. until November 2020 to complete its exit from the agreement.

Reaction

The Business Council for Sustainable Energy, which has been an observer at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the past 25 years, was dismayed by the news. “Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement weakens the U.S. government’s ability to protect U.S. commercial interests in these discussions as well as in other important international negotiations,” President Lisa Jacobson said. “This international agreement is an opportunity to bolster American economic development, not a barrier to it.”

Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said Trump’s decision “sealed his reputation as an economic and environmental wrecking ball with few rivals in U.S. history. Locally, his decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement threatens to reduce jobs and shrink our regional economy. It would do so by embracing fracking and a dying coal industry over the jobs-creating markets for wind and solar power.”

Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, who attended the announcement, issued a statement saying the decision will lower prices. “The agreement involves enormous costs for zero benefits, and requires member countries to submit new, steeper commitments to reduce emissions every five years,” he said. “Its global energy-rationing regime consigns poor people in developing countries to perpetual energy poverty.”

Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner said the withdrawal was “a commonsense approach that helps the American people and businesses. … From lost jobs, higher electric bills or more overzealous government regulations, the Paris Agreement was by all accounts a rotten deal.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) thanked Trump for “dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the withdrawal “a devastating failure of historic proportions. Future generations will look back on President Trump’s decision as one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing.”

Corporate, International Responses

Several corporate leaders blasted the move, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger pledging to quit a White House advisory council. “Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk said.

General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt tweeted his disappointment. “Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government,” he said.

IBM issued a statement rejecting Trump’s view that the agreement would hurt the economy. “IBM believes that it is easier to lead outcomes by being at the table, as a participant in the agreement, rather than from outside it.”

But Peabody Energy, the largest coal mining company in the U.S., praised the decision. It said it “continues to advocate for greater use of technology to meet the world’s need for energy security, economic growth and energy solutions through high-efficiency, low-emissions, coal-fueled power plants, and research and development funding for carbon capture.”

The decision was not well received in Europe.

“The Paris Agreement provides the right global framework for protecting the prosperity and security of future generations, while keeping energy affordable and secure for our citizens and businesses,” U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said.

French President Emmanuel Macron rejected Trump’s call for renegotiation. “I tell you firmly tonight: We will not renegotiate a less ambitious accord,” he said. “There is no way. Don’t be mistaken on climate; there is no plan B because there is no planet B.”