As marches were held across the US in protest against his policies, Donald Trump seemingly remained unfazed by the momentum against him. The US president made a speech in which he praised positive relations with several countries, including Germany, the UK, Japan and China, while he stressed that he remained committed to putting America first.
Trump said that he was in the midst of renegotiating the rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the US’ neighbors, commenting that those talks were shaping up in his desired direction.
We will renegotiate NAFTA and if we don’t reach a fair deal for our country (…) we will terminate,” Trump said.
Holding his speech in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump repeatedly emphasized how America’s traditional Rust Belt and other impoverished communities would eventually benefit the most from his policies, highlighting the issue of job creation while never touching upon the environmental concerns associated with Trump’s expansion of fossil fuel industries. Among other accomplishments he listed for his first 100 days, Trump boasted that the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline was a milestone.
Protests for the environment
In Washington, DC, protesters marched from the US Capitol to the White House along the National Mall, demonstrating in support of strengthening climate science. The “Peoples Climate March” even managed to attract a number of celebrities to join including Leonardo DiCaprio, who carried a sign, saying
“Climate change is real.”
As the capital city reached record April temperatures of more than 30 degrees Celsius (85 Fahrenheit) protesters highlighted Trump’s rollbacks of environmental protections. These include plans to increase oil and coal production, the construction of a controversial pipeline, and the prospect of the United States pulling out of the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change.
Trump has said in the past that climate change was a “hoax,” tweeting in November 2016 that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive.”
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