US withdrawal from Paris accord dismays Asia

US President Trump’s decision on Thursday to pull out of the Paris climate agreement has been met with dismay in Asia.

Speaking at the White House yesterday, Trump said that “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” and that the agreement would “put the US at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world”, claiming that deal would cost the US $US3tn in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs – while rival economies like China and India were treated more favourably.

China’s Premier Li Keqiang pledged to keep the accord on track, “China will continue to implement promises made in the Paris Agreement, to move towards the 2030 goal step by step steadfastly,” Li said in a Berlin joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

China state news agency Xinhua said “Trump’s decision to ditch the Paris deal will leave a fairly big shoe for a single country to fill,” reports Reuters. The deal was signed in April 2016 and ratified by 195 countries, including China and India.

The Times of India reported that Trump made a ‘laundry list of complaints against India, falsely saying New Delhi was demanding “billions and billions and billions” of foreign aid to conform to the deal’.  Trump claimed in his statement that the Paris agreement allowed India and China to build coal plants but not the US, transferring jobs and production out of America.

The decision however will not have come as surprise to Asian leaders, as Trump made an election pledge to pull out of the deal, calling the agreement a “Chinese hoax” to undermine the US economy.