President Donald Trump made a big announcement on Thursday. He pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement that was reached by the United States and 196 other nations of the world in 2015 to contribute to mitigating global warming.

[We broke down the Paris Climate Agreement and its import in another article you’ll find here]

In a lengthy and unapologetic speech, Trump said, “in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, but begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or an – really entirely new transaction“. The summary of the rationale behind this decision is: “America First”, a recurring sentiment which he reiterated in his Rose Garden speech when he said he “was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris“.

President Trump’s decision has been largely criticized by other world leaders with one describing it as “a decision to leave humanity’s last chance of securing our children’s future on this planet“. But this concern is only one of the tons of implications of America’s pullout.

These are some of the other things Americans and maybe the rest of the world should be worried about, thanks to President Trump’s decision:

1. President Trump is going to be isolated: This is a major consequence of this decision according to Federiga Bindi, a former adviser to the Italian government and a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Transatlantic Relations who spoke to Huffington Post. Bindi said, “I don’t think Americans put things really in perspective. They tend to think history is 10 years ago, and tend to think America’s leading role in the world is given and it’s going to be there for the rest of time and this is not going to happen.” So far since the announcement, President Trump has yet to receive any support from global leaders, an indication that more moves like this will further Trump and his America on a lonely path.
2. China has just been nudged to take America’s place as world leader: It is now a given, China is the biggest winner from this pullout. China is the word’s largest emitter of carbon-dioxide followed by the US and it holds the agreement to reduce the intensity of emissions dear. Experts believe that America’s pullout serves China the golden opportunity to become the go-to country to parley closer with in this very important fight. China was swift to iterate its commitment to the deal on Thursday in various statements including one by its Foreign Ministry where it said, “China will continue to implement its vision for sustainable development and take steps to tackle climate change “no matter what position other countries shall take“.”
3. Trump keeps losing valuable advisers: Upon the announcement, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger also announced that they were done helping out with running his administration. Both top executives resigned from the president’s business advisory council. Musk said, “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world”. Trump put the council together in December to assist in making policy decisions. Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick was the first to leave in February following the travel ban on seven majorly Muslim countries.

And for the rest of the world:

4. Trump just put the climate deal in jeopardy: To begin with, the US president has always been of the belief that climate change is a spoof pulled on all off us by the Chinese. But the real threats exist and curtailing them (which was the point of the accord anyway) may now be more difficult to achieve. The aim of the Paris deal is to keep global temperature from rising beyond 2ºC and with the US being the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, the efforts to fight the effect of global warming has just been dealt a big blow.

Tolu

Your pop culture/entertainment go-to. Music head. Wallflower. I do not like to write. On a mission to decipher covfefe.