By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will not send any high-level officials to the next climate summit in Brazil, a White House official told Reuters, easing concerns among world leaders that Washington could send a team to derail the talks.
Brazil will host a high-level leaders’ summit next week, before the start of two-week UN climate talks in the city of Belém.
Earlier this month, the US threatened to use visa restrictions and sanctions to retaliate against nations that voted in favor of a plan put forward by the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ocean shipping.
These tactics led a majority of IMO countries to vote to postpone for a year the decision on implementing a global carbon price for international shipping.
According to the White House official, the president already made his administration’s point of view clear in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly last month, when he called climate change “the biggest scam in the world” and chided nations for establishing climate policies that he said “cost their countries fortunes.”
“The President is engaging directly with leaders around the world on energy issues, which can be seen in the historic trade agreements and peace agreements that have a significant focus on energy partnerships,” the White House official told Reuters in an email.
The Trump administration has been pursuing bilateral energy deals in its trade negotiations to boost U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports with countries including South Korea and the European Union.
This Friday, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said there is “room for a large energy trade between China and the United States”, given the Chinese need for natural gas, while the two economic giants negotiate over tariffs.
Trump announced on his first day in office that the US would withdraw from the 10-year-old Paris climate agreement, which will take effect in January 2026. The State Department has been reviewing US involvement in multilateral environmental agreements.
Earlier this year, the US also pressured countries negotiating a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution not to support a deal that would set limits on plastic production.
The White House official told Reuters that “the tide is turning” on prioritizing climate change, pointing to a memo this week from billionaire philanthropist and longtime investor Bill Gates, who said it is time to stop focusing on meeting global temperature goals and that climate change “will not lead to the extinction of humanity.”
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici)
