Daily on Energy: Two years in, Trump’s Paris exit hasn’t inspired other countries to follow
terça-feira, maio 14, 2019
TWO YEARS IN, TRUMP’S PARIS EXIT HASN’T INSPIRED OTHER COUNTRIES TO FOLLOW: President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris climate change deal doesn’t appear to be discouraging countries from taking the final step of ratifying the deal.
The U.S. ratified the deal — which is still in effect — in 2016, and the number of countries that still need to ratify has fallen since.
The most current list posted by the United Nations of countries who have ratified the deal has the U.S. in good company with most of the world. Only a handful of countries, including Iran, Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan, have not taken the final step of ratifying the deal.
Conservative and free-market critics of the Paris deal dismiss the U.S.’ ratification as a farce, because the agreement was never brought before the Senate. Instead, the U.N. allowed the deal to be executed via executive fiat.
Nevertheless, Trump cannot officially leave the Paris agreement until around the time of the 2020 presidential elections per U.N. rules. June 1 marks the two-year anniversary of his announcement that he would exit the deal.
There had been fears on the part of European countries that the U.S. decision to exit Paris would dissuade other countries from enforcing their own emissions cuts. But the numbers tell a different story.
Of the 185 countries who have ratified the deal, about a third of those decided to do so after Trump was sworn into office. There are a total of 10 countries that signed the deal but have not ratified it. At the end of last year, there were 13.
Trump and Orbán have Paris in common: Even Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is meeting with Trump on Monday, ratified the Paris climate deal in 2016. The Hungarian leader, who shares many of Trump’s views on immigration, was the only member of the European Union to endorse Trump’s campaign for president.
Russia, which counts itself among the 10 countries that have not ratified, has begun making public statements in recent weeks that it plans to do so this year. Russia is one of the largest greenhouse gas-emitting countries left to ratify the deal.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visits Russia later this week. Russian officials began making public statements in April that they will pursue ratification, which is a foreign policy topic that the country might want to bring up with Pompeo. However, more pressing issues are likely to crowd it out, including North Korea nuclear disarmament, Syria, Iran, and the results of the Mueller investigation.
The State Department says he will discuss a “full range of bilateral and multilateral challenges.”
Russia says it plans to complete all necessary work for ratification by the end of 2019.
OPEC member Iran, another big emitter that has not ratified, has not said whether it will shore up its position on the climate change deal any time soon. Its main concern is U.S. sanctions making it difficult for it to export its number one commodity — oil.
Most of the countries that have not ratified the deal have either significant issues of government instability, like South Sudan, Yemen, and Libya, or have major beefs with the United States.
Turkey, which also has not ratified the deal, says it will defy Trump’s sanctions and continue to import Iranian oil.
Iraq has also not ratified the Paris deal. Iraq, which is still counted as a U.S. ally in the region, will continue to import Iranian natural gas under a U.S. waiver that expires soon after the fasting month of Ramadan.
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Page: Washington Examiner
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