Trump still deciding on Paris climate agreement

President Trump is still deciding whether the United States will stay in the Paris climate change agreement.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters aboard Air Force One that the topic of the Paris pact came up in Trump’s and Tillerson’s Wednesday meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, following the president’s meeting with Pope Francis.

“The president indicated we’re still thinking about that, that he hasn’t made a final decision. He, I think, told both Cardinal Parolin and also told [Italian] Prime Minister [Paolo] Gentiloni that this is something that he would be taking up for a decision when we return from this trip,” Tillerson told reporters en route to Brussels.

{mosads}“It’s an opportunity to hear from people. We’re developing our own recommendation on that. So it’ll be something that will probably be decided after we get home.”

Tillerson said he, Trump and Parolin had a “good exchange” on climate change, and Parolin pushed Trump to remain in the agreement.

At the meeting earlier in the day, Francis gave Trump a copy of Laudato Si, his 2015 encyclical on climate change that pushes all people of faiths across the world to take action to slow global warming.

Trump promised on the campaign trail last year to “cancel” the Paris accord, in which nearly 200 nations agreed to limit their greenhouse gas emissions.

But some in the administration, including Tillerson, are pushing Trump to remain in the accord while potentially changing the 26 percent to 28 percent emissions cut that former President Barack Obama pledged.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said earlier this month that Trump would decide on the agreement after his current international trip.

The trip includes a meeting of the leaders of the Group of Seven due to start Friday. All of those countries support the Paris agreement.

— Jordain Fabian contributed.