US withdrawal from climate change pact leaves a vacuum China will fill

WITH one stroke of his pen, Donald Trump today made China an undisputed leader in a move the US could regret.

WITH one stroke of the US President’s pen Donald Trump today made China an undisputed global leader on climate change.

President Trump said he would pull America out of the Paris accord on climate change, which would rob the process of an influential proponent and a key beneficiary.

“We’re getting out,” said Mr Trump in Washington.

This puts the US in a tiny club with just Syria and Nicaragua who have refused to sign the Paris pact on reducing carbon emissions. Nicaragua held off because it believed the agreement wasn’t tough enough.

And it means the second-largest source of carbon emissions after China is exiting a comprehensive program to lower the output across the world.

On the other side of the ledger are 195 countries which have signed. Make that 194 when America finally extracts itself — a lengthy matter.

The timing of the announcement was critical on a broader canvas.

Just as the Trump administration is pulling down the shutters around America — including that promised wall with Mexico — China is hoping to boost global co-operation through its One Belt One Road projects.

And Beijing is offering a sympathetic ear to the problems of smaller nations which fear inundation from rising sea levels caused by what the US President calls a hoax.

Mr Trump’s withdrawal from multilateral influence is not as substantial as he pledged in his election campaign. Not yet, anyway.

But it is underway and this latest retreat, from the Paris agreement on reducing carbon emissions globally, will be the most significant instance.

Not least because, as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said, “the vacuum will be filled, and the Chinese are in prime position to take on a leadership role”.

Beijing is heavily polluted but China will now need to take a global lead on climate change. Picture: Nicolas Asfouri / AFP

America’s diplomatic reliability will now be questioned by those in countries which are not big Trump fans.

If the President can dump commitments on climate change, and trade — the Trans Pacific Partnership being one — how steadfast will it be in other multilateral arrangements?

The Trump move also highlight’s the President’s remarkable record on climate change.

“I believe in clean air. Immaculate air ... But I don’t believe in climate change,” he said in 2015.

But his most noted comment was in November 2012: “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.”

Framing the global warming debate as purely a strategy of economic warfare excused Mr Trump from taking it seriously and from examining it in detail, and was appealing for US workers in polluting industries which depend on cost-free emissions.

The consequence of that type of near free-for-all is obvious in China’s industrialised cities, where smog can prevent residents in apartment towers from seeing the ground below.

And major industry sectors around the world, from banks to manufacturers, have calculated that reducing carbon emissions is a commercial necessity.

If it doesn’t start now, costs will rise and jobs will be depleted down the track.

This argument is being recognised in the central command economy of China, which is now developing the emission reduction blueprints other nations might soon follow.

China is doing this for its own selfish reasons, but is aware it also needs emission reductions on a global scale to be effective.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang yesterday called this “ an international responsibility”.

And he pointedly noted China “in recent years has stayed true to its commitment”. In diplomatic dialect, he was suggesting, “You can’t trust the Americans.”