The White House has denied reports that it plans to stay in the Paris climate agreement, saying its position on leaving was unchanged and that it would only stay in if it gets more “favorable” terms.
The administration of US President Donald Trump on Saturday was forced to make a statement as ministers from more than 30 countries held talks in Montreal over the weekend preparing for the upcoming UN climate summit in November.
The Wall Street Journal reported that US officials had said at the Montreal talks that they would not pull out of the Paris accord and were offering to re-engage with the deal, citing EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete.
The journal quoted Canete as saying: “The US has stated that they will not renegotiate the Paris accord, but they will try to review the terms on which they could be engaged under this agreement.”
Canete also said there would be a meeting on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York City early this week with US representatives “to assess what is the real US position,” the Agence France-Presse reported.
“It’s a message which is quite different to the one we heard from President Trump in the past,” he was quoted as saying.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Saturday said in an e-mail to reporters: “There has been no change in the United States’ position on the Paris agreement. As the President has made abundantly clear, the United States is withdrawing unless we can re-enter on terms that are more favorable to our country.”
Ministers from 34 economies are meeting in Montreal partly to head off potential efforts by the US to weaken the accord at the November summit in Bonn, Germany.
Although Trump said in June that the country would pull out of the accord, there has been little formal effort to do so.
Half the G20 is represented at the weekend meeting in Montreal, although there are no senior US climate officials in attendance.
The US delegation is headed by US National Economic Council Deputy Director Everett Eissenstat.
After the summit, Canete is set to travel to New York today and meet National Economic Council Director and presidential adviser Gary Cohn.
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