US could re-enter Paris accord

Norwegian PM makes business case for the 'green economy'

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Washington could "conceivably" rejoin the global Paris climate agreement if a better deal could be reached, from which he announced the withdrawal last year.

At a news conference with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, Trump said: "We could conceivably go back in."

However, he insisted that the Paris accord, which the international community signed in 2015 with the aim of combating climate change by limiting global temperature rise to well below 2 C, was "a bad deal" and "very unfair" to the United States.

Trump's words may mean that his position was actually unchanged from a year ago.

Trump's decision to pull the US out of the accord has sparked a wave of anger and dismay at home and also a chorus of disapproval abroad.

During the news conference, Solberg told Trump that her country remains committed to the Paris climate agreement, making the business case of the "green economy" to the real estate developer-turned president.

Solberg said that many Norwegians drive US-made Tesla electric cars and said her country saw "tremendous economic and business opportunities" as nations around the world fight climate change.

"Norway is combating climate change - it's an important issue for us and we are committed to the Paris agreement," she said.

Trump said the planned US withdrawal from the Paris climate deal "wasn't a major topic" during their discussions and repeated his claim that the climate agreement negotiated by the Obama administration and signed by countries around the globe "treated the United States very unfairly" .

"We could conceivably go back in," Trump said. But he added: "The Paris accord really would have taken away our competitive edge and we're not going to let that happen. I'm not going to let that happen."

Solberg, by contrast, cited her support of the agreement, which she said would help US businesses.

Encouraged by generous government tax credits, about one-third of citizens in the Scandinavian country drive zero-emission electric cars many of them Teslas.

The exchange over the environment and Solberg's efforts to make the business case for fighting climate change stood out as the two leaders bonded over economic ties and military might.

Trump's meeting with Solberg was the first foreign leader visit with the president in 2018. Seated in the Oval Office, Trump noted that Norway has been a strong consumer of US-built military equipment, including the F-35 aircraft.

While Norway remains a major exporter of oil and gas, the Norwegian government was among the first to sign on to the landmark Paris climate deal, pledging to meet a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.

Xinhua - Ap

(China Daily 01/12/2018 page12)