Trump Bad Deal of Paris Accord
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/04/weekly-climate-and-energy-news-roundup-272/
What Did Trump Say? Lost in the outrage are some significant positions Trump established for his administration including emphasis on national sovereignty, economic growth, and development of US natural resources.
Near the end of the speech, Mr. Trump asserts his concern about national sovereignty:
“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. 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.”
Frequently in the speech Trump emphasizes the economic disadvantages to the US for staying in the Paris Agreement. For example:
“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 [on us?] 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.”
Further, Trump emphasizes the importance of developing US energy resources:
“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.”
He devotes considerable time discussing Green Climate Fund called for in the Paris Agreement:
“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?”
One should note that Trump did not call for withdrawing from the process of negotiation, or for abandoning the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Instead, he called for negotiating another agreement or significantly changing the Paris Agreement. As discussed in Article # 1, this path may be lengthy. More lengthy and difficult than simply rejecting the UNFCCC because the conditions of the Senate approval of the treaty have not been met. However, the position is consistent with the recommendations of many senior Republican Senators.
A student of American History may find similarities in the Trump speech to part of the George Washington’s Farewell Address of avoiding foreign entanglements, but honoring commitments already made. By calling the Paris Accord a non-binding executive agreement to avoid submitting it to the Senate for ratification, President Obama committed only his administration, not the nation, to the Paris Accord. And this is how the game is played. See Article # 1 and links under After Paris! Change in US Administrations and http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
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