‘The French are our people’ – Trump, Macron to meet at Paris climate summit
President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron will meet on Thursday at the COP21 climate summit in Paris to discuss the Paris agreement on fighting climate change, the White House said.
It was the first time the two leaders would meet since the Paris Agreement was signed by nearly 200 nations last year.
The two leaders will discuss the deal’s future, Trump said in a statement.
Trump and Macron will “expand cooperation and work towards the finalization of the Paris Accord” as well as “make a historic agreement to achieve an ambitious global goal of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius,” he said.
“They will make a bold, historic announcement to achieve that goal, and we are confident that the United States will be able to lead the world in a bold and historic way to achieve the ambitious goal.”
Trump and the president of France have been in constant communication since the signing of the agreement, according to the White Star Line.
They have a “long-standing partnership and mutual respect,” according to a White House official.
Trump’s trip to the United Nations is being seen as a chance to try to change the world’s climate policy and make it more effective, particularly as he has been criticizing President Barack Obama’s efforts to combat climate change.
He has been a vocal opponent of the accord.
He has been critical of Obama’s decision to pull out of the deal, saying it was “an abject failure.”
Trump has been criticized for not doing enough to keep the United Kingdom and other European countries in the Paris accord, but Trump has defended the agreement as being a positive step toward global climate change mitigation.
Trump said in an interview with CBS’ Face the Nation in March that the Paris deal “would be far more effective if it had been in place before, and it would have been more effective.
It’s much more effective than it is now.
And I think it would be much better if it was in place during the time of the current administration.”
Trump also has been under fire for not having the support of the American people.
The Washington Post reported that Trump did not have enough votes to break a tie at the White Hall last week, a move that left him with a one-vote advantage.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.