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Donald Trump Says He Is 'Not Willing' To Tackle Climate Change

Donald Trump Says He Is 'Not Willing' To Tackle Climate Change

The US President claimed the steps needed to address climate change issues could 'put our companies out of business'

EMS 7

EMS 7

Donald Trump has rejected the need to deal with climate change at this year's G20 summit in Japan.

The US President went against warnings that this is the last generation with the power to tackle global warming. Instead, he used his speech to reject green energy, claiming that he was 'not willing' to take action to confront the situation because it would affect his country's production industries.

He said: "So we have the best numbers that we've ever had recently. I'm not looking to put our companies out of business.

"I'm not looking to create a standard that is so high that we're going to lose 20-25 percent of our production. I'm not willing to do that.

"We have the cleanest water we have ever had, we have the cleanest air we've ever had, but I'm not willing to sacrifice the tremendous power of what we've built up over a long period of time and what I've enhanced and revived.

"I'm not sure that I agree with certain countries with what they are doing, they are losing a lot of power. I am talking about the powering of a plant.

Donald Trump speaks at a news conference following the G20 summit in Japan.
PA

"It doesn't always work with a windmill. When the wind goes off, the plant isn't working. It doesn't always work with solar because solar's just not strong enough, and a lot of them want to go to wind, which has caused a lot of problems.

"Wind doesn't work for the most part without subsidy. The United States is paying tremendous amounts of subsidies for wind. I don't like it, I don't like it."

During his time in office, Trump has made plans for the US to pull out of the Paris international climate agreement, has taken steps to cut back the US Environmental Protection Agency and has claimed that global warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese to attack US manufacturing.

At the summit the POTUS defended his decisions, claiming he wasn't 'ignoring' the problem.

"We have the best numbers we've ever had recently, and I'm not looking to put our companies out of business," he said.

"I'm not looking to create a standard that is so high that we're going to lose 20 to 25 percent of our production."

Trump has proven to be a sticking point at the summit in the Japanese city of Osaka, as world leaders try to figure out a way to respond to the urgent issue by generating their own national targets.

PA

Sky News' diplomatic editor, Dominic Waghorn, said that ahead of the meeting, France and the US clashed over climate change commitments.

He said: "At the heart of that disagreement is an American objection to the language about climate change, an issue which Theresa May is going to lead the intervention on, about more concerted international action."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: climate change, US News, Donald Trump