Wall Street Journal Claims Trump Rethinking Paris Climate Pullout, White House Denies

by William Teach | September 17, 2017 7:50 am

[1]

One has to wonder if it was a wise decision to run a story using an EU energy official as the source with the headline

Trump Administration Won’t Withdraw from Paris Climate Deal[2]

Trump administration officials said Saturday the U.S. wouldn’t pull out of the Paris Agreement, offering to re-engage in the international deal to fight climate change, according to the European Union’s top energy official.

The shift from President Donald Trump’s decision in June to renegotiate the landmark accord or craft a new deal came during a meeting of more than 30 ministers led by Canada, China and the European Union in Montreal.

“The U.S. has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement,” European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The AFP[3] also reported

The United States “stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris Accord, but they try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement,” said the European Union’s top climate official Miguel Arias Canete.

He said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of next week’s UN General Assembly with American representatives “to assess what is the real US position,” but noted “it’s a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past.”

Perhaps they both should have waited for the White House to respond

(The Hill[4]) The White House on Saturday denied reports that the Trump administration is no longer seeking to withdraw from the Paris climate deal.

“There has been no change in the United States’ position on the Paris agreement. As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country,” said White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters in a statement.

And from Sarah Sanders

Our position on the Paris agreement has not changed. @POTUS[5] has been clear, US withdrawing unless we get pro-America terms.

— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) September 16, 2017[6]

Many Warmists are hoping that this news, even with replies from the White House, mean that Trump won’t actually pull out, he’ll just ignore the Paris Climate Agreement. It’s utterly voluntary, as Mother Jones[7] points out

Even if the U.S. remained, the Trump administration would not have had to do anything if they didn’t want to. “Since Paris is voluntary, there’s no concrete reason for Trump to pull out or to stay in,” Kevin Drum wrote in May[8]. “The United States can do whatever it wants either way. The whole thing is about signaling,”

Yeah, it is about virtue signaling. And Trump can chose to ignore everything in it without pulling out. But, if America is still technically in it, a future Democrat president can force America to comply with the terms.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[9]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[10].