Trump halfheartedly left the door open to renegotiate the Paris climate deal. The world gently closed it.

President Trump says no to Paris
(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

When President Trump shut the door on the Paris climate agreement on Thursday afternoon, he actually left it open a crack, perhaps in a nod to close members of his administration who had argued against pulling the U.S. out. "We are getting out," Trump said in the White House Rose Garden. "But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that's fair. And if we can, that's great." It was immediately clear that there would be no renegotiating the Paris Agreement.

More than 190 nations — everyone but Syria and Nicaragua — agreed to the Paris plan, and "you cannot renegotiate individually," said Christina Figueres, the former United Nations official who led the Paris negotiations. "It's a multilateral agreement. No one country can unilaterally change the conditions."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.