Trump's Paris Agreement withdrawal illustrates USA's abdication as leader – opinion

The fulfilment of US President Donald Trump's election promise to pull the country out of the Paris Climate Agreement might impress his own voters but it ultimately plays into the hands of the USA's greatest rivals at the international stage and leaves it weakened and alone, Klaus-Dieter Frankenberger writes in an opinion piece for conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "Future generations will have to bear the costs of a complacent and dull refusal to accept reasonable climate action," he writes. Frankenberger says the climate debate "could well use some scepticism”, but adds that a US government that considers climate action to be "some sort of virtue terrorism" loses every authority in this debate. Just like the USA's withdrawal from the trans-pacific trade agreement TPP instantly strengthened China's position, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement drives Washington's allies into Beijing's arms. "America is no longer ready to act as a strong and reliable leader. This narrowmindedness of the greatest economic and military power means a grave change for the whole world," Frankenberger writes.  

The US administration said on Monday it filed paperwork to withdraw the country from the Paris Agreement, the first formal step in a one-year process to exit the global pact to fight climate change.