Trump Withdraws U.S. From Paris Climate Agreement For Second Time On First Day Back, Resolving Long-Standing Concern That The World's Largest Historical Emitter Had Quietly Rejoined The Fight Against Its Own Emissions

The Filing

WASHINGTON. Hours after taking the oath of office for a second time, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, resolving a long-standing concern within the administration that the world's largest historical emitter of greenhouse gases had, during his four years away, quietly rejoined the international effort to slow its own contribution to planetary catastrophe.

The order marks the second time Trump has removed the country from the accord, an achievement no other president has been positioned to claim, having withdrawn the United States once before in 2017 only to watch his successor rejoin it in 2021. Aides described the repeat exit as a rare opportunity to undo the same agreement twice, a form of efficiency the president has long admired.

Under the treaty's terms, the withdrawal will take a full year to become official, meaning the United States will spend the following twelve months as a signatory to a climate agreement it has announced it does not intend to honor. The order also directs the government to halt its international climate finance commitments, sparing American taxpayers the burden of helping poorer nations prepare for weather the United States has done the most to worsen.

"The Paris Agreement was a total rip-off, one of the worst deals ever made, and everybody knows it," the president said, reprising a characterization he has offered consistently since 2017. A source within the administration added that the timing of the order, signed on the first day of the term rather than the second or third, was meant to signal that no priority ranked higher than ensuring the planet would continue warming without American interference.

The withdrawal returns the United States to the small company of nations outside the agreement, a distinction the administration has framed as leadership. It arrives on the heels of 2024, which scientists confirmed was the hottest year in recorded human history, a milestone the order does not mention.

At press time, the president had moved on to declaring a national energy emergency, having determined that the United States was suffering from a dangerous surplus of restrictions on the fuels responsible for the emergency.

Who Benefits

§Donald Trump, who delivered on a marquee campaign promise to the fossil fuel executives he had personally solicited for donations, and who secured the singular distinction of withdrawing from the same treaty on two separate occasions.
§The oil, gas, and coal industries, freed from the prospect of a national government committed on paper to reducing demand for their products.
§Fossil fuel donors, whose contributions to the 2024 campaign are rewarded with the removal of the country's signature climate commitment within hours of the inauguration.
§Saudi Arabia, Russia, and other petrostates, whose long-term business models are strengthened by the retreat of the world's largest economy from the effort to move beyond the fuels they sell.
§China, which inherits the mantle of global climate leadership, and the accompanying diplomatic influence, by the simple act of remaining in the room the United States has just left.

Sourced to the public record · presented without editorial embellishment