California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bilateral climate change pact with China after meeting with Xi Jinping (the Chinese President) in Beijing. Within 24 hours of his departure to China he returned home to receive the visiting German environment minister in San Francisco, CA. The governor told the audience at a news conference that the United States still remains in the Paris agreement, despite Washington’s withdrawal from the global accord.
The international alliance
Barbara Hendricks Grinned -- the German Minister of Environment -- applauded governor Brown for his warm reception and pledged her commitment to work with the California governor as her US partner to fill the gap the White House left.
Brown said that the United States has never had a President like Trump, and that America is facing an abnormal and unprecedented situation. He further said, in reality, President Trump is entirely against the world and he will not be able to stand for a long time. The governor added that they are fully ready for the battle.
Brown is highly passionate about climate change, which has pushed him on the opposite side of the Trump administration. He has described the President as AWOL on the issue of global warming and called the Paris climate pact exit “an insane and deviant move.” (CNN).
A call for the opposition to join forces
Brown has consolidated what he and Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and Jay Inslee of Washington stood for when they announced the US Climate Alliance that agreed to commit to the goals of the climate pact.
This is also a rallying move for Trump's strong opponents, New York City's former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, business leaders, and climate advocates.
Paris climate pact still alive
The alliance said it now has 13 states that have pledged to commit to the accord. "America is not out of the Paris Accord. Mr. Trump is out. That doesn't mean the rest of the country won't find a way back in.
We're not opposing for the sake of opposition," said Brown. "I'm opposing to uphold the truth."
President Trump believes the Paris climate accord does not help American workers, and has said that it is unfair to Americans and advantageous to foreign countries.
Donald Trump announced the US exit from the pact at the Rose Garden: “We’re getting out." He said that the administration was pulling out of the pact and that he was willing to negotiate to see if there was a better deal.
