The Paris Agreement: Where We Were, Where We Are, Where We Are Going

On June 1, 2017, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement (the "Agreement"), describing it as "disadvantaging the United States" and indicating that the United States will "cease implementation" thereof, unless the United States can renegotiate its terms. While purporting to be a definitive statement of U.S. policy, the President's announcement raised more questions than it answered.

1. Where We Were

The Agreement was the culmination of a four-year negotiation among the 197 nations that are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The parties reached agreement on December 12, 2015, and the United States formally joined the Agreement on September 3, 2016. Former President Barack Obama did not send the Agreement to the Senate for ratification (as would be required for a treaty), but rather relied on existing authorities to support the United States' participation,