Trump says he'll decide on Paris climate agreement next week
SICILY, Italy— -- President Trump, coming off a G7 summit and meeting at the Vatican where he was pushed for the U.S. to stay in the Paris climate agreement, tweeted Saturday that he will make a decision next week.
The future of the United States’ involvement in the landmark agreement, which Trump repeatedly criticized as a candidate, was a sticking point at the Group of Seven summit in Italy that ended today, with the Italian prime minister pointing to it as an "open question" at the end of the summit's first day on Friday.
“There is one open question, which is the U.S. position on the Paris climate accords. … All others have confirmed their total agreement on the accord,” Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. “We are sure that after an internal reflection, the United States will also want to commit to it.”
In addition to getting pushed on the topic at the G7 summit, the president also got an earful at the Vatican, where the pope presented the president with one of his writings on the environment and the Cardinal secretary of state further raised the issue during a bilateral meeting.
Though the president has yet to make a final decision, his chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, indicated Friday that the president was growing more attuned to the European stance on the issue.
"I think he is leaning to understand the European position,” Cohn said when asked which way the president was leaning. “Look, as you know from the U.S., there's very strong views on both sides.”
Cohn told reporters the president's views on the Paris climate agreement are “evolving.”
“He came here to learn,” Cohn said at the G7 summit. “So his views are evolving, which is exactly what they should be.”
The president’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, chimed in to say that the president’s decision about whether to remain in the agreement would ultimately be based on what’s best for the United States, to which Cohn concurred.
