British Prime Minster Theresa May said Friday that President Donald Trump needs to rejoin what she called a non-negotiable Paris climate agreement.
“I hope they will be able to find a way to come back into the Paris agreement,” May told reporters Friday ahead of the G20 meeting in Germany. “We are not renegotiating the Paris agreement, that stays, but I want to see the U.S. looking for ways to rejoin it.”
The summit is intended to lend support to the non-binding Paris climate accord, an international agreement former President Barack Obama forged with a coalition of nearly 200 countries. The Obama administration pledged to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions nearly 30 percent by 2025.
Trump withdrew from the U.S. from the deal in June, essentially undoing Obama’s crowning achievement. The president claimed Obama did not do a good job negotiating the terms of the accord – Trump claimed that the U.S. would be willing to re-enter the deal under different terms.
The president promised to “cancel” the Paris Agreement during last year’s national election, but his own White House was split on the issue. Trump has already issued a slew of executive orders rolling back Obama-era global warming regulations.
May said Friday that she will work beside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders to pressure Trump back into the fold.
“The collective message that will be given to President Trump around this [G20 summit] table will be the importance of America coming back into that agreement and I hope we will be able to work to ensure that can happen,” she said. May has been treading water politically since losing parliamentary seats in a special election earlier this year.
Members in May’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) argue that the prime minister should lean on climate skeptic Nigel Farage should contribute to EU negotiations pulling the country out of the European Union. Farage’s party UKIP, led the campaign to divorce Britain from the EU.
Sources say Farage’s possible return to UKIP could be thwarted if May gives him an honorary title. Farage, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, supposedly met with one of UKIP’s chief lieutenants Sunday to discuss the party’s future.
“They hold a few cards,” the source said. “They want Farage as a lord or a role in government or he (sic) and Arron will put something together that will cause trouble for May.”
Farage said in June that he would seriously consider returning to politics if Brexit was not carried out. U.K. citizens voted 51.9 percent to leave the EU last year. Farage stepped down as head of the UKIP after the referendum passed.
Follow Chris White on Facebook and Twitter
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
