Gary Cohn Tells U.N.: U.S. Still on Track to Leave Paris Climate Accord

UNITED NATIONS — White House National Economic Adviser Gary Cohn hosted a breakfast near the U.N. Monday on energy and climate change, during which he reiterated the administration’s stance that the U.S. will leave the Paris climate accord unless more favorable terms are negotiated.

“Per the White House statement on Saturday and consistent with the President’s announcement in June, we are withdrawing from the Paris Agreement unless we can re-engage on terms more favorable to the United States. This position was made very clear during the breakfast,’ a senior White House official said.

Trump announced in June that the U.S. would leave the Obama-era agreement, although he added that he was open to re-entering the agreement “or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the U.S. was looking for a way to remain in the agreement if it could find the right terms. The White House denied the administration’s stance had changed and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Sunday on CBS News that Cohn was leading the effort to “construct a set of terms that we believe is fair and balanced for the American people” and recognizes U.S. economic interests.

“I think under the right conditions, the president said he’s open to finding those conditions where we can remain engaged with others on what we all agree is still a challenging issue,” he said.

“So I think the plan is for Director Cohn to consider other ways in which we can work with other partners in the Paris climate accord — we want to be productive, we want to be helpful,” he said.

Cohn, who had advocated for keeping the U.S. in the 2015 Paris climate agreement before the June decision, said after the breakfast that he felt the meeting was “very constructive.”
“There was some confusion over the weekend and I think we removed all the confusion,” Cohn said after the Monday meeting, according to Reuters.

“Everyone wants to work together. Everyone wants to understand everyone’s position. I think everyone has an understanding where we all want to get to,” he said.

A senior White House official described the breakfast as a “useful conversation” that covered a wide range of topics including ways that nations can “work together to provide affordable, reliable energy to help reduce global poverty.”

“We discussed the President’s energy agenda, and the role that U.S. energy resources and technologies can play in promoting energy security, driving economic growth, and reducing emissions at home and globally,” the official said.

Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics and U.N. reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY