Trump to decide on Paris climate agreement after G7 summit

U.S. President Donald Trump will not make an announcement on whether or not to pull the country out of the Paris Agreement on climate change until after he returns from the May 26-27 Group of Seven (G7) summit in Italy, the White House said Tuesday.


"The president has been meeting with his team for quite a while on this matter," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters at a daily briefing.

Trump was originally scheduled to sit down Tuesday with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, his daughter Ivanka Trump and others to discuss the agreement, but the meeting was postponed.

When asked if the canceled meeting is a sign that Trump is vacillating on the agreement, Spicer said: "No, I think it's simply a sign that the president wants to continue to meet with his team ... and come to a decision on what's (in) the best interest of the United States."

It's reported that Trump's cabinet and top officials are deeply divided about whether the U.S. should pull out. Tillerson and Ivanka are said to want the U.S. to stay, while Pruitt and White House strategist Steve Bannon reportedly have been pushing Trump to leave the international agreement.

Trump himself has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement during his presidential campaign.
  [china.org.cn/ Xinhua/globaltimes.cn]
10/5/17