UPDATE: President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate accord. The decision was announced Thursday afternoon in the Rose Garden.
Trump said he is willing to negotiate a new agreement that is fair to America.
Read the original story below.
President Donald Trump plans to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, Axios and other media outlets reported, citing unnamed sources.
Fox News and CBS News soon aired similar reports.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, the president said only that he will announce his decision on whether to withdraw “over the next few days.”
"Pulling out of Paris is the biggest thing Trump could do to unravel (former President Barack) Obama's climate legacy," Axios' Jonathan Swan wrote early Wednesday. "It sends a combative signal to the rest of the world that America doesn't prioritize climate change and threatens to unravel the ambition of the entire deal."
A White House official, who was not identified, told The Associated Press that there might be "caveats in the language" the president uses to withdraw from the agreement, "leaving open the possibility that the decision isn't final."
Trump promised to pull the U.S. out of the climate agreement during his presidential campaign, arguing that it was bad for American businesses.
“This agreement gives foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use right here in America,” Trump said during a speech last May. “We’re going to cancel the Paris climate agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax dollars to U.N. global warming programs.”
Trump tweeted Saturday that he would make his "final decision" on whether to keep the U.S. in the climate agreement this week.
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