Trump spurns Climate Accord

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VOL. 35, NO. 6, JUNE 2017 WWW.SOCIALISTACTION.ORG U.S. $1 / CANADA $2 “We’re getting out!” President Trump declared be­ fore the press and a knot of governmental officials who had gathered in the White House Rose Garden on June 1. “In order to fulfill my solemn duty to pro­ tect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.”

Trump characterized the Accord as being “less about the climate and more about other countries’ gaining a financial advantage over the United States.”

He continued his xenophobic message: “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.”

Trump singled out in particular the “Green Climate Fund,” which he said has been siphoning billions of dollars out of the U.S. economy, “a massive re-distri­ bution of United States wealth to other countries.” The fund was intended to help underdeveloped na­ tions move to renewable energy and mitigate the ef­ fects of climate change. So far, the fund has raised a total of around $10 billion from wealthier capi­ talist countries, including $3 billion from the U.S. (about one-hundredth of one percent of the U.S.

According to the precepts of the Paris Accord, it will take more than three years for the U.S. to for­ mally withdraw from it. But Trump indicated in his speech that he believes his announcement can help dampen any legal challenge to the measures that his administration has already put into place that weaken environmental safeguards in order to ramp up oil, coal, and other extractive industries.

And what about the climate? That burning issue was scarcely apparent in Trump’s June 1 speech. Al­ though his address was long, rambling, and repeti­ tive, Trump never found a single moment to utter (Photo) May 24 protest in Brussels against visit of Trump to NATO summit. See more on page 3.

the words “climate change.”

Frequently in the past, Trump charged that reports of climate change were nothing but a hoax. But now he was silent on the question except to cite statis­ tics about the inability of the Paris Climate Accord to make much of a dent in world temperatures. (Al­ though it is true that the goals set by the Climate Ac­ cord are inadequate to stave off an environmental catastrophe, the data that Trump selected for his speech distorted and exaggerated what scientists actually predict.)

Despite the untruths and bombast, Trump’s re­ marks received whoops and prolonged applause from his supporters in the Rose Garden. The atmo­ sphere of the afternoon event was celebratory, as (continued on page 9, in “Lessons from Germany”)

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