ABSTRACT

After years of complex and challenging negotiations， 197 countries reached a landmark climate agreement during the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change summit in Paris (the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21)). Under the Paris Agreement, countries announced actions they plan to take to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions known as Intended Nationally Determined Contributions. Although there is a broad scientific consensus that the earth’s climatic system is warming as a result of the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, on 1 June 2017 President Donald Trump announced his intentions to pull the United States out of the agreement. Donald Trump has questioned climate science and argued that the Paris Agreement puts the United States in a disadvantageous position relative to other countries and hurts US economic competitiveness and jobs. The US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is likely to cause serious damage to future multilateral climate talks and could reduce the political willingness of some states to take strong actions. Free ridership could become a greater problem. The US pullout of the agreement is moreover likely to damage the US’ international reputation in an increasingly interdependent world. The US will be more vulnerable to political and economic risks as a result of Trump’s political gamble. The rejection of international cooperation in the pursuit of narrowed-minded national interests will hurt the United States in the long run.

2017 The Trump administration s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.pdf