US left behind one year after announcing leaving the Paris agreeement,

[Guillaume Albasini + 851]

Trump wanted to undermine the Paris agreement with the US withdrawal but his move is eroding US influence in the world and helping China to gain ground diplomatically and economically.

 

"One year ago this week, President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. The president claimed that the Agreement was a bad deal for America. The reality is that his disavowal of the treaty is putting the United States increasingly at odds with the rest of the world and harming the American people.

In the meantime, while the United States is marginalizing itself on climate and other international issues, China is more actively providing global development assistance – and, as a consequence, eroding U.S. influence around the world.

The economic opportunities that the United States is losing out on by rejecting the Paris Agreement are enormous. The International Finance Corporation estimates that the Paris pledges from developing countries alone have opened up global investment opportunities worth $23 trillion. Another recent study argues that meeting the most ambitious targets under the Paris Agreement would save $20 trillion for the world economy by the end of the century."

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/05/31/in-the-year-since-trump-announced-withdrawal-from-paris-climate-agreement-the-world-is-moving-on/

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

No worries, the steel and aluminium tariffs will compensate, I'm sure.

[Solanum + 11]

12 hours ago, Guillaume Albasini said:

Trump wanted to undermine the Paris agreement with the US withdrawal but his move is eroding US influence in the world and helping China to gain ground diplomatically and economically.

I agree with this statement. It makes the US look bad by withdrawing which hurts economically. However, on the flip side, it isn't like he is in charge of all the overseas investments, or even investments inside the borders of the US, or even in control of any of the companies. And well china has a lot more money.

Some of this is smoke and mirrors, what I think he is trying to do is to balance the trade deficit. Free trade doesn't really work if only one side is free trade.  He is attacking the trade deficit from the opposite angle Obama took. Obama didn't attack the FF industry nearly as much it was stated. And Trump isn't attacking the renewable industry nearly as much as one would like to believe. It is like felling a tree with an axe and both sides are swinging from different sides.  Obama attacked it by we need to buy time to develop technology and keep energy prices low. Trump is attacking it by we have the cost competitive technology, oil prices can skyrocket. 

Overall the US had like a 5% reduction in GHG emissions last year, and sales of plug in cars are still going up. higher energy prices has traditionally also increased interest in electric alternatives, and solar panels are now cost effective.  With the higher oil prices, people on the (US) far right are starting to see the policy wasn't all bad, and are softening their stance against PV and EV techs. Gotta give them a few years, they are a lot slower to adapt to change.


.

 
 

[SLL + 24]

US CO2 emmissions have fallen lower, faster, than anyone else party to this agreement.

I shouldn’t even have to provide a link for this one, boys...

[ronwagn + 6,290]

Meanwhile, China is producing more REAL pollution and CO2 than any nation in the world and it is increasing annually! America is the leader among large nations in decreasing pollution and has the cleanest air. The reasons are clear, increased use of natural gas, wind, and solar. Unfortunately new hydro projects have been stopped by so called environmentalists. 

Edited June 2, 2018 by ronwagn
addition

[DGR 0]

Are there not 11 states that ignored Trump and are still committed to reach the Paris agreement goals. That is likely helping to contribute to the improvements. 

As for the  steel and aluminium tariffs for so called "national security reasons" for Canada and Mexico it is likely just another way to put pressure on for the NAFTA negotiations. 

Not sure why Trump thinks there is a trade deficit with Canada when the US own numbers show there is a trade surplus. He probably wants to kill NAFTA to have separate deals with each country. It is with Mexico that there is a $64 billiion trade deficit, which is nothing compared to the $385 with China in 2016.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/canada - U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $673.9 billion in 2017. Exports were $341.2 billion; imports were $332.8 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $8.4 billion in 2017.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/mexico - U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled an estimated $616.6 billion in 2017. Exports were $276.2 billion; imports were $340.3 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Mexico was $64.1 billion in 2017.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china-mongolia-taiwan/peoples-republic-china  - U.S. goods and services trade with China totaled an estimated $648.5 billion in 2016.  Exports were $169.8 billion; imports were $478.8 billion.  The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with China was $385 billion in 2016.

Given these numbers it doesn't make a lot of sense for the US to jeopardize trade and alienate it's northern ally and neighbor. The Trump administration seems to either have a limited grasp of world foreign policy and is focused on an isolationist policy. Either way it is meaning that influence of the US is going to diminish. The upcoming G7 meeting is being called G6 +1, which is not good. 

 

[SLL + 24]

17 hours ago, DGR said:

Are there not 11 states that ignored Trump and are still committed to reach the Paris agreement goals. That is likely helping to contribute to the improvements. 

As for the  steel and aluminium tariffs for so called "national security reasons" for Canada and Mexico it is likely just another way to put pressure on for the NAFTA negotiations. 

Not sure why Trump thinks there is a trade deficit with Canada when the US own numbers show there is a trade surplus. He probably wants to kill NAFTA to have separate deals with each country. It is with Mexico that there is a $64 billiion trade deficit, which is nothing compared to the $385 with China in 2016.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/canada - U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $673.9 billion in 2017. Exports were $341.2 billion; imports were $332.8 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $8.4 billion in 2017.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/americas/mexico - U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled an estimated $616.6 billion in 2017. Exports were $276.2 billion; imports were $340.3 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with Mexico was $64.1 billion in 2017.

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china-mongolia-taiwan/peoples-republic-china  - U.S. goods and services trade with China totaled an estimated $648.5 billion in 2016.  Exports were $169.8 billion; imports were $478.8 billion.  The U.S. goods and services trade deficit with China was $385 billion in 2016.

Given these numbers it doesn't make a lot of sense for the US to jeopardize trade and alienate it's northern ally and neighbor. The Trump administration seems to either have a limited grasp of world foreign policy and is focused on an isolationist policy. Either way it is meaning that influence of the US is going to diminish. The upcoming G7 meeting is being called G6 +1, which is not good. 

 

Which 11 states?

Aside from California, which has it's own power problems, the other 10 have insignificant levels of renewables, and get their power from what else....natural gas.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

California's energy is probably the most expensive in the nation and will only get more expensive due to renewables. Gasoline taxes are also going up. Natural gas should be used for trucking within California to reduce pollution. It is already used in most buses.