The G-20 summit, which begins today in Hamburg, will be President Trump's first. He must face up to and try to resolve many critical issues as he meets with the world's leaders. People will watch especially carefully as he meets with Russia's Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping.
We hope his meetings are fruitful and that he is appropriately tough on or friendly toward his counterparts. But we also hope he completely ignores the lectures and sneering he will likely get from European leaders over the American withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.
Trump did the right thing in pulling the U.S. out of this farce from the late stages of the Obama presidency. He should feel very confident about his decision.
The reaction by European leaders has been as hysterical and disproportionate as it is hypocritical. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already telegraphed in advance that she intends to make it an issue and to confront Trump over the Paris agreement specifically.
He should respond to her by first pointing out that the U.S. actually reduced its overall greenhouse emissions faster than Germany over the last decade. Between 2005 and 2015, American emissions fell by 9.9 percent, as compared with Germany's 8.8 percent, even though the U.S. was not a signatory to any carbon emissions treaty during that period.
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05.01.2024