Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement: The socialist solution to climate change
3 June 2017
Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement is another in a growing list of actions that exemplify the thoroughly reactionary character of his administration.
Behind the pseudo-populist “America first” rhetoric of his speech on Thursday, which bore the unmistakable imprint of Trump’s fascistic chief of staff Stephen Bannon, is the assertion that nothing will be tolerated that places the semblance of restraint on the rapacious operations of the corporate and financial aristocracy. If the Earth is to be poisoned and burned as a result, so be it.
Trump’s domestic and international rivals seized on the occasion to posture as defenders of the environment. Editorials in the New York Times and Washington Post called Trump’s action “shortsighted” and “self-defeating.” In Europe, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron issued a joint statement declaring that the agreement would not be renegotiated, and that “it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies.”
Such criticisms, however, have far less to do with the actual issue of climate change, let alone serious measures to halt the warming of the Earth, than they do with the international and domestic conflicts between different factions of the ruling class. Led by Germany, the European powers are using Trump’s pullout from the Paris agreement to bolster a campaign aimed at asserting their independent economic and geostrategic interests amidst a growing transatlantic divide.
Domestically, the criticism of Trump’s actions intersects with deep conflicts within the ruling class, centered on issues of…