European Commission number two Teresa Ribera said on Tuesday it would be “shocking” if the US were “forgetting about the rest of the world” and leave global climate negotiations.
Asked whether she believed Washington might withdraw from UN talks on a new climate agreement in an interview with Reuters, Ribera said such a move could amount to “a kind of suicide”.
“It is quite shocking to see that a country that has been respected, the house of freedoms, liberties, rights, improvements, cooperation, technology breakthroughs, decides a kind of suicide,” she said. “So to be isolated, to forget about the rest of the world.”
Her comments come amid the second Trump administration’s pullback of US aid and the ramp-up of tariff spats with partners worldwide. Upon taking office in January, the US president also withdrew the country from the Paris Agreement for the second time.
Ribera added that she has hope that other US forces, such as business owners, mayors, and governors, will invest in alternative means of energy instead of burning fossil fuels.
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