By Atayi Babs
Following suggestions that Donald Trump could only consider remaining a signatory of the Paris Agreement if new terms were reached, President of France, Emmanuel Macron has declared that the landmark Paris climate deal will not be renegotiated.
The French President’s comments came during his address to the UN General Assembly amidst renewed hopes that the world’s second largest polluter would remain tied to the accord’s carbon emission targets.
Macron also told his audience at the United Nations General Assembly that “the door will be open” for the United States to return to the agreement if it so wishes.
“This agreement will not be renegotiated.” “We will not retreat” he added.
Macron noted that the international community had so far fallen short of successfully addressing major threats such as climate change. Now more than ever before, we need common efforts to tackle environmental challenges and other global issues, Macron said, including war and terrorism.
“We can only address those challenges through multilateralism, not through survival of the fittest.”
Macron also hit back at US President Donald Trump on Tuesday by staunchly defending the Iran nuclear deal at the UN General Assembly, speaking soon after Trump called the deal an “embarrassment to the United States”.
“Renouncing it would be a grave error, not respecting it would be irresponsible, because it is a good accord that is essential to peace at a time where the risk of an infernal conflagration cannot be excluded,” Macron said.
The French president added that he had made his position clear to both Trump and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani when he met with them on Monday.
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