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'Look at India, China, Russia, the air is filthy': Donald Trump defends Paris climate accord exit

23-October-2020

US President Donald Trump has strongly defended his decision to withdraw from the 2016 Paris climate accord. Participating in the last presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump today described the air in India, China and Russia as 'filthy'. "Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India. The air is filthy. I walked out of the Paris Accord as we had to take out trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly," he said at the televised debate. "I will not sacrifice millions of jobs thousands of companies because of the Paris Accord. It is very unfair," Trump added. Trump had announced his decision to withdraw from the pact in June 2017. But the exit process began in November 2019 when the Trump administration formally notified the UN about its decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a global agreement in which Trump's predecessor Barack Obama had played a key role. The exit was a major blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming. Trump had been maintaining that the Paris pact was an unfair economic burden imposed on American workers, businesses, and taxpayers by the US pledges made under the Agreement. He had earlier claimed that the Paris climate accord was not tough on India and China, adding that it gives advantages to the two Asian giants. According to Trump's submission, the Paris agreement on climate change agreed upon by more than 190 countries was "negotiated poorly by Obama administration and signed out of desperation". The Paris climate pact brings all nations into a common cause to undertake efforts to combat climate change. It aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius. India is the fourth highest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. According to an estimate, it accounts for nearly 7 per cent of global emissions.