New Delhi (NVI): US President Donald Trump, during his second and final presidential debate with Democratic rival Joe Biden, used the word “filthy” to describe the air quality in India, China and Russia while justifying the United States’ decision to walk out of Paris climate agreement.
Accusing India, China and Russia of not taking care of their air quality, Trump said that the US air quality is much better as his government has taken appropriate steps in this regard. During the debate, he said that the US has the best carbon emissions in 35 years. “We have the cleanest air, the cleanest water and the best carbon emissions”.
In the race for the White House, Trump clashed with Biden on a number of issues like Covid-19, immigration, racism, healthcare and foreign policy.
“Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia, look at, India, it’s so filthy, the air is filthy,” the US President said in a segment on climate crisis.
“The Paris accord, I took us out because we were going to have to spend trillions of dollars, and we were treated very unfairly when they put us in there, they did us a greatest service. They were going to take away our businesses,” he said.
Trump repeatedly blamed countries like India and China for not doing enough on climate change while labeling them as regions with air that is impossible to breathe.
The US had formally notified the UN of its withdrawal from 2015 Paris climate accord in November last year. The landmark global agreement brought together 188 nations, including India, to combat global warming.
In 2017, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, saying the international deal to keep global temperatures rise below 2 degrees Celsius was disadvantageous to US workers.
However, the process began for withdrawal began after almost two and a half years in 2019 with the formal notification and the US will be out of the pact on November 4, 2020.
-ARK
