John Kerry blasts Trump for pulling out of Paris accord

Former Secretary of State John Kerry blasted Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord and mocked the President's claims about negotiating a different agreement, the media reported.

"When Donald Trump says, well, we're going to negotiate a better deal, you know, he's going to go out and find a better deal? That's like (former football player accused of murdering wife) O.J. Simpson saying he's going to go out and find the real killer," Kerry said in an NBC News interview on Sunday.

"Everybody knows he isn't going to do that because he doesn't believe in it."

"If he did believe in it, he wouldn't have pulled out of Paris. America has unilaterally ceded global leadership on this issue, which for years even Republican President George H.W. Bush pushed in this direction."

On June 1, President Trump announced his long-awaited decision to fulfil a campaign pledge and pull out of the Paris climate agreement, which is aimed at curbing emissions that contribute to climate change.

The decision was a reversal of the former Barack Obama administration's announcement last year that the US would enter the agreement that has signatories from 196, reports NBC News.

Kerry invoked his successor Rex Tillerson, who also opposed the US pulling out of the Paris accord.

"I mean, what does Donald Trump know that Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobile, doesn't know?" he asked.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt, one of the members of the administration to push Trump to exit the agreement, earlier on Sunday firmly defended the President's decision. He repeated his assertion that other nations around the world applauded the US previously because the signing "put us at an economic disadvantage".

"Why did China and India not have to take any steps until 2030?" Pruitt asked.

"Why did India condition their CO2 (carbon dioxide) reductions upon receiving $2.5 trillion of aid in the agreement? We were going to take steps, front loading our costs while the rest of the world waited to reduce their CO2 footprint. That's the reason it put us at an economic disadvantage internationally," NBC News quoted Pruitt as saying.

--IANS

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