Ted Cruz is holding Trump’s feet to the fire in an op-ed on CNN, calling on Trump to get out of the Paris Accords Climate treaty just as he promised he would on the campaign trail. He even explains to Trump why he should do it:
Following a successful international tour and the G-7 Summit in Italy, President Trump has an opportunity to relieve our nation of the unfair and economically devastating requirements of the Paris Agreement, the United Nations climate treaty he pledged to rip up during the campaign.
And as soon as possible, President Trump should act on — and keep — his campaign promise.
The agreement, signed by the Obama administration last year, would commit the United States to drastically reducing its carbon emissions while allowing some countries to increase theirs. This, all while doing nothing to meaningfully decrease global temperatures.
According to a recent National Economic Research Associates Economic Consulting study, the Paris Agreement could obliterate $3 trillion of GDP, 6.5 million industrial sector jobs and $7,000 in per capita household income from the American economy by 2040. Meeting the 2025 emissions reduction target alone could subtract $250 billion from our GDP and eliminate 2.7 million jobs. The cement, iron and steel, and petroleum refining industries could see their production cut by 21% 19%, and 11% respectively.
Not only would these unfair standards reduce American job growth and wages and increase monthly utility costs for hardworking families, they would fundamentally disadvantage the United States in the global economy. The result: our economic output would lag while other countries continued to expand their GDPs.
We should not let a deal subject to the whims of future administrations or Congresses hang like a wet blanket over our economy — driving up energy prices, devastating our industrial base and bolstering our rivals.
I hope President Trump will take the opportunity before him to fulfill the commitment he made and withdraw America from the Paris Agreement.
I hope Trump will keep his promise on this as well. He’s certainly not kept all of his promises, but I think is one he should keep if he really believes in and cares about American jobs.