White House delays meeting on Paris climate deal

Leading up to the expected Tuesday meeting, a number of high-profile businesses spoke out in favor of remaining in the deal.

Trump is getting a variety of advice regarding the climate deal reached during President Barack Obama’s administration, officials said.

And the brand has a long history with the White House: The Trumps presented the Obamas with a Tiffany blue box with a signature white bow on inauguration day at the White House.

A meeting of top White House aides to discuss the agreement had been scheduled for Tuesday.

Trump has maintained he is committed to taking the USA out of the accord, which would severely weaken the agreement as the United States is the world’s second-largest polluter.

French president-elect Emmanuel Macron has told his USA counterpart Donald Trump in a telephone call he will defend a climate change deal agreed in Paris in 2015, his spokeswoman says.

Aides says he is moving toward a decision whether to honor the 2015 deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming, including a USA pledge to reduce its pollution over the coming decade. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would prefer that the U.S. did not renege on the commitment, either.

Mr. Trump’s decision to wait until later this month to render an official verdict comes as a blow to advocates of withdrawing from the climate change accord, since the G-7 summit in Italy will allow advocates of the agreement to press the president not to withdraw.

However, the group found, 21 percent of that achievement – or roughly one-fifth of the emissions cuts – depend on the United States.

The administration has postponed making a final decision on the agreement multiple times, as Trump’s advisers are reportedly split over whether to reaffirm the commitment to the deal or ditch it. The official requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Delattre said he “underscored this point” in a White House lunch with President Trump, when the president met with members of the U.N. Security Council late last month.

Trump repeatedly promised to “cancel” the agreement during the presidential election campaign.

Ted Halstead, president of the Climate Leadership Council, said that “there is a almost unanimous position on the part of big business”. But, like that larger meeting, the session between Ivanka Trump and Pruitt was postponed.

Several former Obama administration officials on Monday called on the Trump administration to recognize that the Paris agreement is not overly constraining and that even with their pro-fossil fuel policies, they can live with it.

“Federal ethics rules distinguish between specific party matters such as an individual permit or lawsuit and matters that apply generally such as a nationally applicable regulation”, said Kevi Minoli, the EPA lawyer who advises Pruitt on ethics issues.

“Withdrawing would be harmful mostly to the reputation of the U.S., it would severely downgrade its leadership status in the world”, said Maria Ivanova, a global governance expert at the University of MA.

Meanwhile, more than 215 global investors, collectively managing more than $15 trillion in assets, sent a letter of their own today to President Trump and other G20 leaders urging them to support and swiftly implement the climate accord.