Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would look to renegotiate the landmark United Nations climate change deal if he’s elected president this year.
The deal, reached in Paris in December and signed by the United States last month, treats the U.S. unfairly compared to other countries, he told Reuters in a wide-ranging interview.
{mosads}Under the deal, the United States and more than 170 other countries agreed to reduce their climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions. The deal is the first time the international community has committed, together, to reduce emissions and confront climate change.
It’s been hailed as a major moment in the climate change fight, and it’s a legacy item for President Obama, who pushed international negotiators to reach a deal on emissions.
Under the agreement, the United States committed to cutting its emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent, from 2005 levels, by 2025. Republicans, though, have criticized the pact, since growing economies like India and China have agreed only to slow the rate of growth in their emissions, not reduce them in real terms.
They argue that puts the U.S. at a financial disadvantage, that cutting emissions here will hurt economic growth even as it accelerates in other countries.
Trump said in December he would have skipped the climate conference in Paris, and he has said he doesn’t believe the science behind climate change.
Obama attended the event, and Secretary of State John Kerry signed the deal in April, the first step toward committing the U.S. to reaching its emissions goals. Obama administration officials have warned any attempt to back the U.S. out of the deal will hurt the country’s reputation on the national stage, and imperil the effectiveness of the deal.
Both Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, support the climate agreement.