U.K.’s Theresa May Promotes Paris Accord, Contrasting With Trump Prime minister says U.K. committed to being global player, doesn’t mention planned exit from EU By Felicia Schwartz
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-s-theresa-may-promotes-paris-accord-international-agreements-at-u-n-meeting-1505942434
UNITED NATIONS—U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said the Paris climate agreement is a key part of promoting global security and prosperity in what appeared to be a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s pledge to leave the accord.
Mrs. May, in her remarks to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, said global commitment to a rules-based system is critical as nations face threats such as North Korea’s pursuit of a nuclear weapons programs and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons against his own people.
“It is this rules-based system which we have developed, including the institutions, the international frameworks of free and fair trade, agreements such as the Paris Climate Change accord and laws and conventions like the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which enables the global cooperation through which we can protect those values,” she said.
The Trump administration had sent signals over the weekend that it was exploring ways to remain in the 2015 pact, but the White House said Monday that the U.S. will leave the deal “unless we can re-engage on terms more favorable to the United States.”
In her address to the U.N. on Wednesday, Mrs. May said that the U.K. is committed to being a global player but didn’t specifically mention its planned exit from the European Union.
“Both globally but also in our own continent of Europe, the U.K. will remain steadfast in our commitment and responsibility to ensure the security and stability of our allies as we have done for generations,” she said.
She addressed the body before meeting with Mr. Trump, but also didn’t mention the Iran nuclear agreement, about which Mr. Trump said earlier Wednesday that he had reached a decision. He didn’t say what he decided, but Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that the U.S. would seek changes to the agreement if it plans to remain a party to it.
The British leader had tough words for Russia, which she criticized for using its veto to prevent efforts to bring about an end to the more than six-year civil war in Syria.
“We have not had to exercise our veto in a generation, seeking to foster international cooperation, not frustrate it,” she said. “But others have not done so. One country in particular has used its veto as many times in the last five years as in the whole of the second half of the Cold War, and in so doing they have prevented action against a despicable regime that has murdered its own people with chemical weapons.”
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