Trump camp reportedly split on Paris Agreement, climate change

"We're going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payment of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs," claimed Donald Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016.

However, now that he's president, his team is reportedly divided on the fate of the country's involvement in the Paris climate treaty, an agreement signed by over 195 countries in 2015 in a worldwide effort to curb greenhouse emissions.

As the New York Times reports, "Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump's senior adviser, is pressing the president to officially pull the United States from the landmark accord, according to energy and government officials with knowledge of the debate. But, they say, he is clashing with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the president's daughter Ivanka Trump, who fear the move could have broad and damaging diplomatic ramifications."

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Another media outlet also recently reported on Ivanka being a potential player on this issue. On February 23, the Wall Street Journal noted, "At the request of President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his wife, Ivanka Trump, language critical of a global climate deal was struck from an executive order that Mr. Trump is planning to sign soon, according to multiple people familiar with the move."

Besides the climate-related implications, experts cite possible diplomatic consequences in the event the U.S. withdraws from the Paris deal.

David Sandalow with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told the Washington Post, "If the U.S. withdraws from the Paris Agreement, that would create a strategic opportunity for China...It would gain credibility globally by sticking with its climate plans even as the U.S. withdraws, helping the Chinese government advance its objectives on a range of topics."

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