US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 23, 2025.
Photographer: Yuri Gripas/AbacaThe Global Climate Order Teeters Under Second Assault by Trump
Trump's second exit from the Paris Agreement is coming at a far shakier time for climate action, with rising populism and corporate retreat adding bigger risk to the US pullback.
The second time President Donald Trump put the US on the path to quit the Paris Agreement, defenders of the international climate order barely stirred in protest. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe will “stay the course” on climate action, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declined to criticize Trump, and Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva waited more than a week before calling it “a step backward for human civilization.”
It was one of Trump’s very first acts in his second term, and one of the least surprising. “The whole movie we’ve seen before is playing again, but just at a higher speed,” said David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the University of California at San Diego who closely tracks global climate diplomacy.