President to first meet with G-7 leaders in Italy before rendering final verdict
President Donald Trump won’t make a decision on whether to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change until after he meets with G-7 leaders later this month, the White House’s top spokesman said Tuesday.
Mr. Trump will wait to make his decision because he “wants to make sure that he continues to meet with his team to create the best strategy for this country going forward,” press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing.
White House officials had been expected to soon close an internal debate on whether the U.S. should withdraw or take more measured steps, but a key meeting on the matter scheduled for Tuesday was postponed at the request of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who would have been unable to attend, an administration official said.
A Tuesday meeting scheduled between Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and a White House adviser, was also postponed, according to an administration official.
Mr. Trump’s decision to wait until later this month to render an official verdict comes as a blow to advocates of withdrawing from the climate change accord, since the G-7 summit in Italy will allow advocates of the agreement to press the president not to withdraw.