Trump preparing review of Paris deal, other treaties: report

President Trump is set to sign an executive order to review the U.S.’s involvement in multinational treaties, possibly including the Paris climate agreement, The New York Times reported Wednesday. 

The report said the Trump administration is preparing two executive orders to overhaul the U.S.’s involvement in the United Nations. One of those orders would set up a review of all treaties with more than one nation, seeking to determine which of the agreements the U.S. should leave. 

Only two treaties are formally mentioned in a statement explaining the order, the report said: the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

{mosads}Throughout the presidential campaign, Trump said he would like to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris agreement to cut global greenhouse gas emissions, a landmark climate deal negotiated in part by the Obama administration. 

The executive order would potentially give him the chance to review the U.S.’s involvement in that deal. 

Trump’s approach to the Paris deal remains an open question. He doesn’t mention the agreement — or any climate change policies — on the new White House website rolled out last week, and after the election, he noticeably watered down his rhetoric on leaving the agreement. 

His nominee to be secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, told senators at his confirmation hearing that he thinks the U.S. should stay in the agreement so it doesn’t lose its “seat at the table” in international climate negotiations. 

Because the agreement took effect in the fall, the U.S. can’t formally pull out of it for several years. But the deal doesn’t have the force of law, meaning Trump could effectively ignore the climate goals it lays out if he decides not to follow the agreement.