U.S. President Donald Trump has informed multiple individuals, including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, that he intends to remove the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, according several sources.
On Saturday night, Axios reported the news based on “three sources with direct knowledge.”
Breitbart News has independently confirmed this reporting and that Trump has told others the same thing: that he plans to withdraw the U.S. from the agreement.
Earlier on Saturday, the President tweeted from Italy that he would make his final decision next week as to whether the U.S. will remain in the Paris Accord. He was in Italy for the G7 summit at the end of his first overseas trip, which was preceded by visits to Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, and Brussels.
While at the G7 summit, Trump was heavily lobbied to endorse the Paris Climate Agreement, but he declined to do so. The agreement was entered into under the Obama Administration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel characterized climate change talks with Trump as “very unsatisfying.”
On Friday, White House economic advisor Gary Cohn characterized President Trump’s position on climate change as “evolving,” though it was not clear exactly what that meant.
An AFP report from early March which cited the New York Times stated that the Trump Administration team was divided over whether the United States should withdraw or remain in the Paris Climate Agreement.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis told CBS Face the Nation, in an interview set to air on Sunday, that he sat in on some policy discussions on the issue while in Brussels and that President Trump is “wide open on this issue as he takes in the pros and cons of that accord.”
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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