Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, reacted angrily Wednesday to reports that President Donald Trump is set to withdraw from the Paris climate change accord.
“That’s not how it works. The Americans can’t just leave the climate protection agreement,” Juncker said. “Mr. Trump believes that because he doesn’t get close enough to the dossiers to fully understand them. It would take three to four years after the agreement came into force in November 2016 to leave the agreement.”
He went to add: “So this notion ‘I am Trump, I am American, America First and I’m going to get out of it’ – that won’t happen. We tried to explain that to Mr. Trump in Taormina in clear German sentences. It seems our attempt failed, but the law is the law and it must be obeyed. Not everything which is law and not everything in international agreements is fake news, and we have to comply with it.”
Multiple reports Wednesday said that Trump is likely to exit the climate change agreement that 195 nations signed on to. It limits greenhouse gas emissions, and the president has said it will stifle economic development. “I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump tweeted following the reports.