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Trump set to announce his Paris climate deal decision

The White House did not confirm those reports, and it was unclear whether Trump would fully scrap U.S. participation, merely water down USA emissions objectives-or surprise everyone with a decision to follow the status quo. Aides have been deliberating on “caveats in the language”, one official said.

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Mr Trump said he would announce his final decision on Thursday, following numerous reports that suggest he will exit the deal.

The EU and China consider the Paris agreement as an historic achievement further accelerating the irreversible global low greenhouse gas emission and climate resilient development.

Withdrawing from the Paris pact became a central message of the Trump presidential campaign.

Macron told President Donald Trump that France will keep open lines of communication with Washington, D.C., but the country will no longer discuss climate issues with the US, a French source told Reuters.

Two US news organisations – Axis and CBS News – reported that Trump had made a decision to withdraw from the deal and the administration has been informing world leaders about it. Doung so will isolate the US as 195 countries agree on the 2015 Paris accord. After the meetings concluded, the United States refused to sign onto a statement of support for the Paris accord that all other G7 participants approved.

“The U.S.is already leading the world in energy production and doesn’t need a bad deal that will harm American workers”, it reads”.

Responding to shouted questions earlier on Wednesday from reporters in the White House Oval Office where he met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Trump said, “I’m hearing from a lot of people, both ways”.

American corporate leaders have also appealed to the businessman-turned-president to stay in the pact.

Trump had several potential options.

In the absence of immediate USA support, China signalled its backing for the climate deal and vowed to reiterate its support jointly with the EU.

President Donald Trump may abandon USA pledges to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to global warming, but that step seems unlikely to stall the push to adopt cleaner forms of energy. Countries are permitted under the treaty to change their goals and there is no punishment for missing targets.

The Paris Agreement commits countries to take action to limit temperature rises to “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to keep them to 1.5C, which requires emissions to be cut to net zero by the second half of the century.

Trump said on Twitter late Wednesday he will announce his decision on whether to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord during a Rose Garden event Thursday afternoon (3 p.m. Easterm; 1900 GMT).

Withdrawing would leave the United States aligned only with Russian Federation among the world’s industrialised economies.

Hundreds of high-profile businesses have spoken out in favour of the deal, including Apple, Google and Walmart. “I believe the United States of America should be at the front of the pack”.

And, China’s premier said today that climate change was an “international responsibility”, and that fighting it required a “global consensus”.

Trump claimed before taking office that climate change was a “hoax” created by the Chinese to hurt the US economy.

Mr Trump has previously described climate change as a “hoax” while the EPA chief Scott Pruitt, a former attorney general of Oklahoma holds similar views.

On the other side is an globalist wing led by daughter Ivanka Trump, who persuaded her father to set up a review process to consult with experts and business leaders before making a decision.

“China and the European Union… will implement the agreement”, a senior European Union official told reporters on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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The Paris agreement is created to set the world on a path toward keeping the warming of the planet “well below” a 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) rise above preindustrial temperatures, an amount of warming that scientists would consider “dangerous” climate change.

California Gov. Jerry Brown discusses his upcoming trip to China during an interview with The Associated Press Wednesday