BUENOS AIRES — Days after President Trump said he lacked faith in the warnings contained in his own administration’s climate change report, France’s and China’s top diplomats teamed up to demand an “effective solution” to global warming.
Flanked by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Foreign Ministers Jean-Yves Le Drian and Wang Yi used Friday’s G-20 summit to insist countries needed to work together to solve the climate challenge.
“Two years have passed since the Paris Accord came into force,” Mr. Wang said in reference to the 2016 deal the Trump administration pulled out of last year. “What was established in this agreement is very important.”
The announcement, in line with the climate “battle” French President Emmanuel Macron said he was waging earlier this year, is seen as a broadside to Mr. Trump, who dubbed the Paris deal “terrible” and “a disaster” before he announced plans to withdraw from the global compact.
While he welcomed the Franco-Chinese effort, Argentine Environment Secretary Sergio Bergman told The Washington Times that bringing the United States back into the fold would be key — and that required “respecting” Mr. Trump’s views.
“Building consensus doesn’t mean that nobody thinks differently,” he said. “What matters is that, at the end of the day, we proceed with a common agenda.”
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