Ellen Asermely
Rabat – Donald Trump has repeatedly denied during his presidential campaing. the existence of climate change, calling it “a hoax,” “nonsense,” and “bullsh-”.
In 2012, Trump tweeted “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”
China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin responded to this statement at the COP22 proceedings in Marrakech. According to The Huffington Post, Zhenmin said the dialogue about climate change was actually initiated “with the support of the Republicans during the Reagan and senior Bush administration during the late 1980s,” not by the Chinese as Trump has suggested.
In the wake of the US presidential election, Zhenmin expressed his hope that Trump will continue to support efforts to cut carbon emissions and abide by the Paris climate agreement reached last year.
“Of course we’re still expecting developed countries, including the United States, will continue to take the lead on mitigating climate change,” Zhenmin said.
Trump has pledged to withdraw from the Paris agreement, and to cut all federal spending for climate change research. Members of his transition team in the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy include noted climate change deniers and fossil fuel lobbyists.
At COP22, US Secretary of State John Kerry said “some issues look a little bit different when you’re actually in office compared to when you’re on the campaign trail,” expressing his hope that Trump would support the fight against climate change despite the rhetoric used in his campaign.
