Washington: The Donald Trump administration has come out fighting after receiving widespread condemnation for deciding to pull out of the Paris Climate Deal, with its Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley saying that the rest of the world should not tell US how to manage its carbon dioxide emissions.
Haley specifically targeted India, as well as France and China, just like Trump did earlier, in her comments and said they should not interfere in American affairs. Appearing in a taped interview for a US TV channel, she strongly supported the controversial decision to withdraw from the landmark accord.
He had put the US in league with two other nations — Syria and Nicaragua — who have not signed onto the deal agreed by over 190 other nations.
India, on the other hand, has committed to protect the climate, irrespective of the fate of the Paris accord. “Paris or no Paris, our commitment to preserving the climate is for the sake of future generations,” Modi said after Trump announced his decision. India also issued a joint statement with France on extending cooperation for action on climate change.
But Haley argued that US should be allowed to do what’s best for its interests, just like other countries.
"They should continue doing what's in the best interest. And if the Paris agreement was something that works for them, that they can achieve, they should do that," Haley said
She defended Trump’s decision saying business could not be run under the kind of regulations imposed by the Paris Climate Deal. “There’s a reason that President Obama didn’t go through the Senate to get this cleared, because he couldn’t. The regulations were unattainable. I mean you could not actually have a business run under the regulations that we had,” she said.
She said that the US is conscious about the environment and it will continue to do its part in protecting climate change.
“We know that there are issues with the environment. We know that we have to be conscious of it. But we can’t sit there and have Angela Merkel telling us to worry about Africa,” she said.
The top American diplomat said that Trump believes the climate is changing, and he does know that pollutants are a part of that equation.
“He believes that climate is changing and he believes pollutants are part of that equation. He is absolutely intent on making sure that we have clean air, clean water, that he makes sure that we’re doing everything we can to keep America’s moral compass in the world when it comes to the environment,” she said.
"We’ve done that in the past. We’ll do it in the future. It’s what the US does. It’s what we’ll continue to do,” she added.
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