Trump to world: Let's make a deal

Donald Trump says he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.

US President Donald Trump has challenged Australia and other nations to come up with a better climate deal than the Paris accord.

Mr Trump, as expected, withdrew the US on Thursday from the landmark agreement struck by former president Barack Obama and leaders of 193 other nations in 2015.

Mr Trump said he cares deeply for the environment, but slammed the deal as draconian and criticised China for being allowed to increase emissions.

He also said India made its participation contingent on receiving "billions and billion and billions of dollars in foreign aide from developed countries".

The president, who prides himself on making deals, said it was time the world sat down with him to strike a new one.

"So we are getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that is fair," Mr Trump, author of the bestseller Trump: The Art of the Deal, said.

"If we can, that's great.

"If we can't, that's fine."

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and other world leaders have said in the lead-up to Mr Trump's announcement in the White House Rose Garden they remained committed to the Paris agreement.

Mr Trump's decision is the latest blow to allies like Australia.

One of the president's first decisions in the White House was to pull the US out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and seven other Pacific nations.

Mr Trump said he was focused on the American people, not other countries and leaders who were "laughing at us".

He also announced the US would stop paying billions of dollars into the Green Climate Fund.

"I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris," Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump said if the US complied with the Paris accord it would cost his country 2.7 million jobs by 2025.


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Source: AAP



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