As rumors swirl around President Trump’s decision to remain or withdraw from international climate accords, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had some choice words for the president from the stage of the Code Conference on Wednesday in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
Echoing the sentiments of current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a number of executives who have signed on to an ad campaign to encourage the president to remain in the Paris Agreement, Clinton said that abandoning the agreement would be bad for the U.S. and American businesses.
“Someone will be the leader in clean energy exports,” said Clinton, who underscored China and European state support and the competitive businesses those companies have created around renewable energy.
“There’s a huge market that someone is going to own and we’re giving that up,” Clinton said.
She admonished the president by noting that there are only two countries that have not signed the Paris Agreement — Syria and Nicaragua.
Further, Clinton argued that the antipathy from the current administration toward companies tackling renewable energy and climate change were making U.S. companies less competitive in global markets.
“It’s a shame,” Clinton said, that these companies didn’t have the support of the U.S. government.