Goodbye Paris

In an emphatic speech made yesterday by President Trump, the United States is pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. If people could not see it before, President Trump has made it quite clear his campaign slogan “America First” is quickly becoming a long overdue reality.

Signing onto the Paris Accord was simply another sign of Obama putting the United States into an agreement that put the best of others ahead of the best of ourselves. Although a very noble effort indeed, when the United States is struggling we cannot give to others before we are stable. Many jobs were being sent overseas, which caused the out of work to fall under the poverty line and stay there.

By pulling out of the Accord, Vice President Pence declared that Trump “[is] putting the forgotten men and women of America first.”

Although pulling out was by no means an easy decision to make, facing criticism even from those within his party, in the long run, this will prove to be a beneficial decision for all parties involved.

This agreement was feared to be much like NATO, possibly very beneficial but one in which the United States would be doing much of the heavy lifting and having other states ride on their coattails. By pulling out of this agreement Trump is sending a stronger message than the one he gave at the NATO summit in Brussels while abroad, showing that if other nations do not pull their own weight then the United States will not always be there to bail them out.

Although there are fears thatTrumpp is isolating the United States from their historically proven allies, and aligning with nations we tend to look down upon like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, this may not be as detrimental as many believe. Although it may give the United States a bad image to align with these nations, the pairings have been lucrative. Take, for example, the arms deal that we just struck with the Saudi Arabians. Not only are we expanding the war on terror without risking the lives of Americans, we are also jumpstarting the economy.

This has only been one of the many moves Trump has made to truly put “America First.” Others include signing an Executive Order to change the H-1B visa program which he believed many tech companies were abusing, slapping a tariff on Canadian softwood to start a trade war, and also possibly leaving NAFTA and NATO.

Ultimately, every step that Trump has been taken has been aimed at phasing out old policies that have been moving American jobs around the world.

Not surprisingly though, he has received lots of harsh criticism from the opposite side of the aisle. Both Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have said that removing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord will hurt our image on the international stage and make us less of a world power. Both statements are extremes. The United States does not need to be in another international organization to be a world power since we are already one of the most powerful nations in the UN and NATO, two of the most influential organizations in existence currently. Also, the United States does not need to be part of an alliance that ensures people are protecting the environment when we already have laws and sanctions in effect that will set America on the right path to achieve the same results that members of the Paris Accord will reach. What will be the difference? The United States is acting domestically and does not need to spend money abroad to ensure these goals are met.

Trump made his point clear with the statement, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”