United States: Donald Trump expected to withdraw US from Paris accord though it could come with caveats, says official

But the official said there may be “caveats in the language” the president uses to announce the withdrawal, leaving open the possibility that the decision is not final. Nearly 200 nations, including the US, agreed in 2015 to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.

During Trump’s overseas trip last week, European leaders pressed him to keep the US in the landmark agreement. He had promised during his presidential campaign to pull the US out of the deal.

Trump, who has called global warming a “hoax”, tweeted yesterday morning: “I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Withdrawing would leave the US aligned only with Russia among the world’s industrialised economies in rejecting action to combat climate change.

Word of Trump’s decision comes a day after he met Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Like his boss, Pruitt has questioned the consensus of climate scientists that the Earth is warming and that man-made climate emissions are to blame.

Since taking office, the pair has moved to delay or roll back federal regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions while pledging to revive long-struggling US coal mines.

What is not yet clear is whether Trump plans to initiate a formal withdrawal from the Paris accord, which under the terms of the agreement could take three years, or exit the underlying UN climate change treaty on which the accord was based.

The US is the world’s second-largest emitter of carbon, following only China. Beijing, however, has reaffirmed its commitment to meeting its targets under the Paris accord, recently cancelling construction of about 100 coal-fired power plants and investing billions in massive wind and solar projects.

The news from the White House led to a swift and strong reaction from the United Nations.

The UN’s main Twitter page quotes secretary-general Antonio Guterres as saying: “Climate change is undeniable. Climate change is unstoppable. Climate solutions provide opportunities that are unmatchable.”

The post includes a link to an impassioned speech Guterres gave on Tuesday when he called on the world to intensify action to combat climate change. He said in the speech: “It would be very important for the US not to leave the Paris agreement.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn will give documents to the Senate intelligence committee probing Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election.

Flynn’s decision came as Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, rejected a House of Representatives intelligence committee request for information and ex-White House staffer Boris Epshteyn said he had been contacted for information.

Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin sounded similar tones as they criticised the US scrutiny of Russia’s attempts to sway the presidential election. Flynn’s co-operation was the first signal that he and the Senate panel had found common ground.

Congressional investigators continue to press for key documents and retired lieutenant general Flynn is trying to limit damaging disclosures that hostile Democratic politicians could use against him.

He previously invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in declining an earlier subpoena from the committee, which sought an array of documents and information related to his contacts with Russia. Flynn’s lawyers argued the request was too broad and would have required him to turn over information that could have been used against him.

In response, the Senate panel narrowed the scope of its request and also issued subpoenas seeking records from Flynn’s businesses.

One of the businesses, Flynn Intel Group Inc, did consulting work for a Turkish businessman that required Flynn to register with the US Justice Department as a foreign agent earlier this year. The other, Flynn Intel Group LLC, was used to accept money from Flynn’s paid speeches.

Among the payments was more than $33,000 (£25,700) Flynn received from RT, the Russian state-sponsored television network.

On Tuesday, a person close to Flynn said he would turn over documents related to the two businesses as well as some personal documents the committee sought in the narrower request. He plans to produce some of the documents by next week, said the source.

While the Senate committee awaits documents from Flynn, Putin and Trump dismissed the US intelligence community’s conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 presidential election by hacking Democratic emails.

In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Putin reaffirmed his strong denial of Russian involvement in the hacking and also said the allegations were “fiction”, invented by the Democrats in order to explain their loss. Trump made a similar claim in a tweet early on Tuesday, saying: “Russian officials must be laughing at the U.S. & how a lame excuse for why the Dems lost the election has taken over the Fake News.”

Cohen said he turned down a request for information from the House intelligence committee looking into the Russian interference.

“I declined the invitation to participate as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered,” he said.

“I find it irresponsible and improper that the request sent to me was leaked by those working on the committee.”

Cohen, a long-time lawyer for the Trump Organisation, remains a personal brief for Trump. He served as a cable television surrogate for the Republican during the presidential campaign.

Cohen told ABC News he had been asked by both the House and Senate intelligence committees to provide information and evidence about contacts he had with Russian officials. His ties with Russian interests came up in February when The New York Times reported that he helped broker a Ukraine peace plan that would call for Russian troops to leave, and a referendum to let Ukrainians decide whether the part of the country seized in 2014 should be leased to Moscow.

The Russians denied knowing anything about such a plan.

The House intelligence committee has also sought information from Epshteyn, a former staffer in the Trump White House.