David A. Wirth is Professor of Law at Boston College Law School. He is former Attorney-Adviser for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the Office of the Legal Adviser of the State Department, where he had principal responsibility for all international environmental issues. David a graduate of the Yale Law School and served as law clerk to Judge William H. Timbers of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is the author of more than 6 dozen books and articles on international law, and is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Now the other shoe has dropped and President Trump has announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement.
President Trump’s campaign promise to “cancel” the Paris Agreement, and his subsequent statement that he has an “open mind” on the question, will now be transported to the multilateral stage in a setting of high politics.
The Paris Agreement on climate change, concluded last December and signed on Earth Day, April 22 this year, has become the latest episode in the long-running tug of war between President Obama and the present Congress over executive power. On the one hand, the Agreement has been hailed as a breakthrough global effort that successfully catalyzed the re-engagement of the United States with the multilateral climate regime.