California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom and Brazil struck a climate partnership on Tuesday, just hours after President Donald Trump dismissed climate change as the “greatest con job.”
In his announcement, Newsom jabbed Trump for ignoring the “existential threat of our time, climate change.”
During his address at the United Nations General Assembly earlier Tuesday, Trump called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion.”
The president framed his remarks within a broader argument for what he described as American “energy dominance,” praising the United States’ oil, gas, coal, and nuclear resources. He warned that nations relying heavily on renewable energy are “heading toward disaster,” singling out European Union climate policies as examples to avoid.
Enter California’s announcement with Brazil, which came with notably suspect timing.
“As the Trump administration reverses course on addressing the existential issue of our time, climate change, California and Brazil will collaborate on transformative policies to safeguard natural resources and build a cleaner, healthier future,” Newsom’s announcement said.
Brazil, meanwhile, is set to host the U.N.’s Global Climate Conference later this year.
“Partnerships with subnational governments, such as the memorandum of understanding signed today with the state of California, are essential to ensure that climate action continues to move forward in the United States, for the benefit of its own population and all of humanity,” Brazil’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva said in the announcement.
Trump also took aim at Brazil and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, during his address.
“Brazil is doing poorly and will continue to do poorly,” Trump said. “They can only do well when they’re working with us. Without us, they will fail just as others have failed. It’s true.”
Trump said he and Lula had “excellent chemistry” in the “39 seconds” they saw each other in New York.
“I was walking in and the leader of Brazil was walking out,” he said. “I saw him, he saw me, and we embraced. But we actually agreed that we would meet next week.”
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