Donald Trump blames India, China and Russia for pollution, says can’t breathe in some cities
Trump told ITV that the United States has among the ‘cleanest climates’.
United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday blamed India, China and Russia for pollution, while claiming that his own country has among the “cleanest climates”. Wednesday marked World Environment Day.
“China, India, Russia, many other nations, they have not very good air, not very good water, and the sense of pollution and cleanliness,” Trump told ITV’s Good Morning Britain show. “If you go to certain cities – I’m not going to name cities but I can – you can’t even breathe, and now that air is going up...They don’t do the responsibility.”
Trump made the remarks on the last day of his visit to the United Kingdom. He joined Queen Elizabeth II, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others in Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings before leaving for Ireland.
Trump said he had a 90-minute meeting with Prince Charles during which the prince “did most of the talking”. Trump said that Prince Charles and he spoke about climate change.
“He [Prince Charles] is really into climate change and I think that’s great,” Trump told Good Morning Britain. “What he really wants and what he really feels warmly about is the future. He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate, as opposed to a disaster, and I agree.”
Trump said he told Prince Charles that the US has “among the cleanest climates there based on all statistics”. “And it’s even getting better because I agree with that we want the best water, the cleanest water,” he said. “It’s crystal clean, has to be crystal clean clear.”
When asked if he accepted the science of climate change, Trump said: “I believe there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways. Don’t forget, it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it was called climate change. Now it’s actually called extreme weather, because with extreme weather you can’t miss.”
Ahead of Trump’s state visit, hundreds of climate change experts had urged Prime Minister Theresa May to confront the US president over his approach to the issue. A letter signed by 250 academics from universities and research bodies across the UK said that his refusal to tackle global warming is “increasing risks for lives and livelihoods” around the world.
Trump has long questioned whether climate change is real and has repeatedly denied it exists. In June 2017, he pulled the US out of the historic Paris climate change deal, and later disbanded his 15-member federal advisory panel on climate change. Because of its exit from the climate pact, the US will probably not achieve its target of reducing carbon emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025.