Trump orders renewed United States withdrawal from Paris Agreement

President Donald Trump signed an order on 20 January 2025 directing the United States to withdraw again from the Paris climate agreement. The administration transmitted formal notification to the United Nations under the treaty's withdrawal procedure.

The United States had first left in 2020 and rejoined in 2021 under President Joe Biden. The new notice did not take effect on signing day; the agreement provides a one-year waiting period after the depositary receives notification.

The order also directed agencies to revoke or rescind international climate-finance commitments and review policies associated with the agreement. Domestic emissions regulation and state policy arise under separate law and did not automatically disappear through treaty withdrawal.

Trump argued that the agreement burdened the US economy and favoured competitors. Supporters of continued participation emphasized climate risk, diplomacy and investment. Membership itself neither guarantees emissions cuts nor is irrelevant: national targets, reporting and international negotiation operate through the framework.

The presidential order and UN treaty record establish the decision and timetable. This item keeps policy initiation separate from legal effectiveness and later emissions. It records a second reversal of US participation without copying the event date into the treaty exit date or assuming that all climate cooperation ceased at once.

The Paris mechanism depends on nationally determined contributions rather than a centrally imposed emissions quota. Leaving removes participation in that collective review, while the country's actual emissions trajectory still follows energy, technology, market and domestic legal choices.