Governor Kasich Blasts Paris Climate Accord Withdrawal

COLUMBUS, OH — President Donald Trump announced that the United States would pull out of the Paris Climate Accord on Thursday. The move has been met with mixed political reactions and has drawn the ire of frequent Trump opponent, Ohio Governor John Kasich.

The voluntary Paris Climate Accord was structured to reduce global carbon emissions, but Trump felt the deal unevenly impacted the American people. He said on Thursday that he was "elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not the citizens of Paris."

Kasich took to Facebook to decry the move, saying America's withdrawal from the agreement was tantamount to relinquishing the nation's status as a global leader. He added, "the Trump Administration should have worked to improve the treaty from within."

The governor was quick to note that he was not happy with the original agreement and believed then-President Barack Obama could have done more to create a bipartisan American voice in the accord.

"But, I know that climate change is real. It is a global issue and will need a global agreement to address. And we could have negotiated that agreement in ways that would not needlessly destroy jobs," Kasich said in his statement.

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He then outlined three main ways he felt the current administration could have improved the Paris Climate Accord, writing that:

- The largest emitters of greenhouse gases could have been asked to commit to concrete, obligatory reductions in emissions;

- The agreement could have targeted the root cause of global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, instead of an indirect measure such as aggregate global temperature; and

- More thorough analysis of the costs and the benefits could have provided greater assurance that jobs were not unnecessarily being put at risk.

"A properly negotiated agreement could actually have ended up driving innovation and creating jobs," Kasich wrote. "By withdrawing from the agreement, the Administration has passed up an opportunity both to expand U.S leadership in clean energy technology and to create well-paid American jobs with a future."

For his part, Trump called the agreement "draconian." He said the deal did not do enough to curb emissions from rapidly industrializing nations like India and China, and hampered American economic growth. Nevertheless, he said he cares deeply about the environment and that the U.S. will be "the cleanest" country going forward, with the cleanest air and the cleanest water."

To read more about Trump's comments on the Paris Climate Accord, and international reaction to the U.S.'s decision, click here.

Other Ohio politicians weren't as verbose in their responses to news of the U.S.'s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.

Republican Senator Rob Portman has yet to issue an official statement on the decision.

The state's representatives mostly divided along party lines, with Democrats like Tim Ryan calling pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord a "bad idea" while Republicans like Jim Jordan said it was the "right thing."

Photo from Governor Kasich's Office