Damn the torpedoes! Trump ditches a crucial climate treaty as he moves to dismantle America's climate protections

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Trump's move to pull US from key UN climate treaty may be illegal, experts say

The Trump administration’s long-anticipated decision this week to pull the US from the world’s most important climate treaty may have been illegal, some experts say.

“In my legal opinion, he does not have the authority,” Harold Hongju Koh, former head lawyer for the US state department, told the Guardian.
...
Because the country entered the UNFCCC with the consultation and approval of the Senate in 1992, “there is an open question” about whether or not the president can unilaterally exit the agreement, Michael Gerrard, a climate law expert at Columbia University, wrote in an email.
...
“President Obama took the position that since the Paris agreement did not impose binding legal obligations on the US, it was not a treaty that required Senate ratification,” he said. “In contrast, President George HW Bush submitted the UNFCCC to the Senate, which unanimously ratified it in 1992, and he then signed it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/12/trump-un-climate-treaty-unfccc

Add it to the list of his illegal actions.