In widely anticipated moves, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump swiftly moved to withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization – dealing serious setbacks to the fights against global warming and infectious disease outbreaks.
Trump spent Inauguration Day signing as many as 100 executive orders within hours of taking office on Monday.
Those included an order to begin forcing the U.S. to exit from the almost 200-nation climate treaty. The withdrawal process takes a year to complete.
He signed an order to force the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations health agency within a year from giving official notification. That will deny hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for WHO's core budget.
The orders put an end to U.S. participation in WHO-led efforts over the past three years to negotiate a pandemic treaty. Negotiators seeking to prevent another pandemic extended last year's deadline for an agreement until this coming May.
WHO said on Tuesday it "regrets" Trump's announcement and hopes his administration will reconsider by holding talks about their partnership.
The U.N. health agency said it has played a "crucial role" in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, since it began in 1948 with the U.S. as a key founding member.
"For over seven decades, WHO and the U.S. have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats," it said. "Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication."
Another Trump order pulls the U.S. out of the 2021 global corporate tax deal that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development negotiated with almost 140 countries, including the U.S. under the Biden administration.
The U.S. Congress never approved bringing the U.S. into compliance with the deal, which has been adopted by the European Union and United Kingdom and requires countries to set a 15% global corporate minimum tax. The U.S. global minimum is about 10% based on a Trump-era tax cut package in 2017.
The U.S. is traditionally WHO's biggest funder. Trump wants to hit "pause" on any future allocations, though the U.S. must pay its dues while still a member. Trump directed U.S. government personnel and contractors to discontinue working with WHO but join other institutions.
The announcements comes less than two weeks since the World Meteorological Organization confirmed the global average surface temperature in 2024 likely was 1.55° Celsius above pre-industrial levels – the warmest calendar year on record and first to exceed the major climate threshold set under the Paris treaty.
The U.N.-led treaty's main goal is to limit global warming to well below 2° C., with an aspiration to limit the temperature increase to 1.5° above the 1850-1900 average by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Without the world’s largest economy in the treaty, it will be difficult to mitigate rising temperatures and extreme weather events around the globe.
'Drill, baby, drill' versus 'low-carbon' growth
In his first term as president from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2021, Trump wasted no time notifying the United Nations in Nov. 2019 — on the first day it was legally possible — that he would withdraw from the Paris agreement.
None of the nations that signed onto the deal, which took effect on Nov. 4, 2016, were able to leave it for the first three years. The United States became the first and only nation to withdraw, but in Jan. 2021 the newly inaugurated U.S. President Joe Biden had the U.S. rejoin the treaty.
Instead of curbing fossil fuel use, as the treaty aims to do, Trump said in his inauguration speech he will declare a “national energy emergency” – even though the U.S. now produces more oil than any other country, even Saudi Arabia and Russia.
He also promised to streamline regulations that “impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals," end land and water leasing for wind energy, and reverse Biden's promotion of electric vehicles.
“The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices,” he said in his inaugural address. “That’s why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' office said in response to reporters' questions about the Paris climate treaty that it has provided "a meaningful yet flexible framework for action by all countries."
He said it has "unleashed an energy revolution, offering unparalleled opportunities for countries and businesses to invest in renewables that power 21st century jobs and prosperity," and he is "confident" that U.S. cities, states and businesses, plus other countries, will keep pushing for "low-carbon, resilient economic growth."
This story has been updated with additional details.
