The Paris Agreement - You Can Pull Out, You Can Ignore It, But Here's What You Can't Do

US President Donald Trump has made it clear that he is no fan of the Paris Agreement. After all Candidate Trump repeatedly stated he would “cancel” the Paris Agreement. The Trump Administration has now indicated that the decision on the fate of US participation in the international agreement will come by late May of this year before the G7 conference in Italy. So let’s talk options. The bottom line is this: President Trump likely can withdraw from Paris if he wants, though there are rules and timelines for doing so. He can also stay in Paris but take no domestic action to achieve the United States’ pledge. What he can’t do is submit a new, weaker target and stay in the agreement. You can’t have your pact and break it too.

Even before the election in November, there was discussion about the possibility and implications of a U.S. withdrawal from Paris. While there is some ambiguity in legal precedent, it