Trump Withdraws U.S. From Landmark Climate Treaty, Drawing Sharp EU Criticism
President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of a cornerstone global climate treaty has sparked strong condemnation from the European Union, which on Thursday pledged to press ahead with international efforts to confront the climate crisis alongside other partners.
The White House announced Wednesday that the United States would withdraw from 66 international organisations and treaties—nearly half of them linked to the United Nations—describing them as operating “contrary to the interests of the United States.”
Among the most significant withdrawals is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the foundational treaty that underpins all major global climate agreements, including the Paris Agreement.
Adopted in 1992, the UNFCCC serves as the central framework for international cooperation to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and to help nations adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.
European Union Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra described the treaty as the backbone of global climate action, stressing its role in uniting countries in the collective fight against a worsening global threat.
“The UNFCCC underpins global climate action,” Hoekstra said in a statement on LinkedIn. “The decision by the world’s largest economy and second-largest emitter to step away from it is regrettable and deeply unfortunate.”
He added that the EU remains firmly committed to international climate research and cooperation. “We will unequivocally continue to support global climate science as the foundation of our work and will remain fully engaged in international climate partnerships,” he said.
President Trump, who has centered much of his domestic policy agenda on expanding fossil fuel production, has repeatedly rejected the scientific consensus that human activity is driving global warming, dismissing climate change as a “hoax.”
Reflecting that stance, the Trump administration declined to send a delegation to the most recent UN climate summit held in Brazil last November, an annual gathering convened under the UNFCCC framework.
Teresa Ribera, the European Union’s vice-president for the clean transition, offered a scathing assessment of the move, saying the Trump administration “doesn’t care” about the environment, public health, or the human suffering linked to climate change.
Despite the U.S. withdrawal, EU leaders insist that global climate action will continue, underscoring their determination to push forward even without American participation.
