It’s official. President Donald Trump announced today that the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, following through on a pledge he made during the presidential campaign. Trump said the Paris agreement “front loads costs on American people. In order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord but begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or an entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States,” the president said. “We are getting out. But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal thatâ(TM)s fair. And if we can, that’s great. Trump said that the United States will immediately “cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris accord” and what he said were “draconian financial” and other burdens imposed on the country by the accord. This means that Elon Musk will leave Trump’s Business Advisory Council. On Wednesday, Musk said he did “all he could to advise directly to Trump.” Apple CEO Tim Cook also made a phone call yesterday to Trump in an attempt to change his mind. Twenty-five companies, including Adobe, Apple, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Salesforce, Morgan Stanley, Intel signed on to a letter which was published on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal today arguing in favor of climate pact. Update: 06/01 19:44 GMT by M :Former president Barack Obama said the U.S. “joins a small handful of nations that reject the future.”

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Source: Slashdot – Trump Announces US Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord