One of the reasons Donald Trump gave for pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement was that he was “elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
Pittsburgh is still known as the “Steel City,” but their economy has diversified over the years.
Ignoring the fact that the climate pact was signed by over 190 countries in Paris, and wasn’t written with just Parisians in mind, the president used the people of Pittsburgh, Penn. to explain his decision to withdraw from the agreement.
Pittsburgh’s mayor quickly responded, saying he would still be following the guidelines of the agreement, which aims to slow the rate of climate change and reduce carbon emissions worldwide.
He also clarified that most of the city didn’t even vote for Trump in the presidential election.
“I consider it to be really sloppy speech writing without any fact-checking or even looking at it because it sounds good,” Peduto said at a news conference later on Thursday.
“In this speechwriter’s mind, Pittsburgh is this dirty old town that relies upon big coal and big steel to survive and he represents those people that are Pittsburgh, and he completely ignores the sacrifices that we made over 30 years in order to get back up on our feet, in order to be creating a new economy, in order to make the sacrifices to clean our air and clean our water and what he did is use us as this example of a stereotype in order to make a point and it missed completely.”
In his speech on Thursday, Trump also mentioned Detroit and Youngstown, Ohio, both in counties that voted for Clinton by a wide margin, the Hill reports.
Pittsburgh residents weren’t too pleased with the mention either.
Elsewhere in the world, cities started lighting up their monuments green, in solidarity with the Paris Climate Agreement.
Montreal’s mayor said City Hall will be lit up in green in solidarity with the Paris Accord.
German magazine Der Spiegel fired back at Trump’s “America First” policy with this scathing cover.
Here’s what the rest of the U.S. has to say:
Former President Barack Obama said Trump is rejecting the future.
Bernie Sanders previously called it a horrific mistake.
Astronaut Scott Kelly of Texas said the move will be “devastating to our planet.”
Elon Musk quit the White House’s economic advisory council because of the decision
Here’s what Canada has to say:
Catherine McKenna, Canada’s environment minister said Canada was disappointed with the decision.
Justin Trudeau pledged to continue Canada’s part in the agreement.
Here’s what the rest of the world has to say:
The leaders of France, Germany and Italy said they weren’t willing to renegotiate, which Trump offered to do in his speech
Other world leaders also condemned the move.