US President Donald Trump has described India and its air as “filthy” during the last presidential debate with his Democratic challenger Joe Biden while discussing the environment and the Paris climate change agreeement.
“Look at China, how filthy it is. Look at Russia. Look at India. The air is filthy. I walked out of the Paris Accord as we had to take out trillions of dollars and we were treated very unfairly,” he said during a debate with Joe Biden.
“I will not sacrifice millions of jobs… thousands of companies because of the Paris Accord. It is very unfair,” he said at the televised debate in which the two candidates avoided shaking hands due to safety risks.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal used the US President’s remarks to take a potshot at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has often addressed Mr Trump as “friend”.
Political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla, meanwhile, urged PM Modi to give a strong response to the US President. “Remember how our IRON LADY Martyr Indira Gandhi ji took on the US & showed Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon their place,” he tweeted.
Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said regretted the “unfortunate comments” made by the US leader and added that India stands committed to climate change goals.
In 2017, Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a global agreement in which President Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama had played a key role. The Paris climate accord aims to cap global warming “well below” two degrees Celsius.
Trump’s remarks come days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper visit New Delhi for talks on building the growing US-India partnership.
India is the fourth highest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, accounting for 7 per cent of global emissions in 2017, according to the projection by the Global Carbon Project published in December, 2018.
The top four emitters in 2017, which covered 58 per cent of global emissions, were China (27 per cent), the US (15 per cent), the European Union (10 per cent) and India (7 per cent), it said.
With inputs from agencies
