Trump signs memorandum withdrawing U.S. from U.N. climate convention

The White House announced in a social media post that President Trump signed a presidential memorandum withdrawing the United States from 66 international organizations and treaties, an action the Times said pulls the U.S. out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the long-standing international climate treaty.

The UNFCCC, established in 1992, is the foundation for the Paris agreement and counts most other nations as members. The White House said the memorandum targeted organizations that "no longer serve American interests," and the administration has already moved to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement, a step the Times reported will become official on Jan.

20. The withdrawal would take a year to go into effect once the United States files formal notice with the United Nations; once finalized, the U.S. would stop taking part in annual negotiations among about 200 nations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Times noted the move deepens U.S.

isolation on climate action as China and many U.S. allies advance clean-energy ambitions. The legal authority of a president to withdraw unilaterally from a treaty is described in the Times as questionable: the U.S. Senate ratified the UNFCCC unanimously in 1992, the Supreme Court has not definitively ruled on withdrawal authority, and scholars are divided about how easily a future administration could rejoin the treaty.

Key Topics

World, Unfccc, Paris Agreement, Donald Trump, United Nations, Greenhouse Gases