Germany’s Merkel ready to confront Trump over Paris climate deal

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says next week’s global summit in Hamburg will focus on pressing on with the Paris climate accord despite President Trump’s move to pull the U.S. out of the deal.

Merkel on Thursday told Germany’s Parliament she is prepared to have difficult talks with Trump at the G-20 summit about the Paris deal and climate change, The Washington Post reported.

{mosads}“Since the U.S. announced that it would exit the Paris agreement, we cannot expect any easy talks in Hamburg,” Merkel said. “The dissent is obvious, and it would be dishonest to cover it up.

“We can’t, and we won’t, wait until the last person on earth is convinced of the scientific evidence for climate change,” she added in a jab at Trump, whom she didn’t mention by name.

Earlier this month, Trump rejected the Paris climate change agreement, breaking with the nearly 200 nations that came together in an effort to limit greenhouse emissions.

The move promoted major backlash from Democrats, environmental groups and many of the U.S.’s allies abroad that were part of the agreement.

Merkel said resistance from climate change skeptics will not convince the members of the pact to revise the agreement, calling it “irreversible.”

She added that she would try to send a signal to Trump against isolationism, saying, “Whoever believes that the world’s problems can be solved by isolationism and protectionism is making an enormous error.”