Juncker warns Trump to ‘stick to’ Paris climate deal

It’s much tougher to leave the pact than Trump may think, the Commission president said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday about pulling his country out of the Paris climate deal.

“I am a trans-Atlanticist, but if the American president said in the next hours or days that he wants to get out of the Paris climate deal, then it is the duty of Europe to say, ‘No, that’s not how it works,'” Juncker said, speaking at an event in Berlin.

The deal, backed by nearly 200 other countries, is “not only about the future of Europeans but, above all, the future of people elsewhere. Eighty-three countries run into danger of disappearing from the surface of the earth if we don’t resolutely start the fight against climate change.”

Trump said Wednesday he would announce his final decision on whether to exit the Paris climate agreement “very soon.” A White House official said earlier in the day the U.S. would withdraw from the pact.

“I’m hearing from a lot of people, both ways. Both ways,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Although Trump could get out of the non-binding deal’s commitments by simply rolling back U.S. climate policy, Juncker was adamant that it’s not as easy to leave the treaty as Trump might think: “The climate deal says: It takes three, four years after the treaty took effect last November to exit the agreement. That means the idea that you can simply disappear into thin air — that won’t happen.

“The law is the law, and everyone has to stick to it,” Juncker continued. “Not everything which is law, and not everything which is written in international treaties, is fake news. You got to stick to that.”

He also noted something positive that has come from Trump’s election, according to his spokeswoman tweeting at the event.

Trump “helps us to better understand each other in Europe,” she tweeted. “If the #US wants to pull out of the #ParisAgreement, we will be firm. #ParisAgreement will continue to apply,” she also tweeted, citing Juncker.

Juncker wasn’t the only European politician taking a shot at Trump’s climate views.

“Climate change is not a fairy tale,” European Parliament President Antonio Tajani said, adding that “if we want the Paris agreement to succeed … the European Union must be a global leader.”

As the U.S. wavers, the EU and China are set to deepen their cooperation on implementing the Paris accord and promoting clean energy technologies.

“No one should be left behind, but the EU and China have decided to move forward … Now is the time to further strengthen these ties to keep the wheels turning for ambitious global climate action,” said Miguel Arias Cañete, energy and climate action commissioner.

The statement comes on the eve of an EU-China summit, which will bring together Juncker, Council President Donald Tusk and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang with other top Chinese officials.

“The EU and China consider climate action and the clean energy transition an imperative,” they will say, according to a draft of a statement from the leaders specifically on climate change and clean energy cooperation and seen by POLITICO. “Stepping up action will provide both sides with significant opportunities.”

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