Inhofe: Paris Climate Agreement Provisions Would Never Work

The Paris climate agreement was not good for the United States and it will be good for President Donald Trump to pull out of it, as its provisions would never have worked, Sen. James Inhofe said Thursday.

"I will be pleased because it will be a complete pullout," the Oklahoma Republican told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. "You might recall the commitment that President [Barack] Obama made in Paris. He said that we in the United States would reduce our CO2 emissions between 26 percent and 28 percent. You can't do it. His own EPA said there is no way in the world that we could reduce emissions by that much."

In addition, Inhofe said, other countries don't realize the United States' form of government, and did not know that Congress needed to agree to the agreement, and the votes weren't there to pass it.

"I think it is important that any time the president makes a statement that quite frankly he knew at the time that he would not be able to do, that this is not a good thing for us to stay in," said Inhofe.

Also, Trump has made a statement that China would not agree to any kind of restrictions on emissions, said Inhofe.

"In fact, Andrea, they are cranking out an additional coal-powered plant every 10 days in China," the senator said. "They said they will continue doing that until 2025, and then they will consider reducing their emissions. What kind of a deal is that? It is not a very good deal."

Mitchell pointed out that several business leaders including Shell and ExxonMobil are urging Trump to pull back from withdrawing from the accord, as they are doing more with renewable energy and other aspects of energy development than they will do if the president pulls out.

"Just on the science of it alone, senator, the last three years were the hottest on record," said Mitchell. "The arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the Earth, the ocean becoming more acidic. The glaciers are disappearing, fish migration, how do you respond?"

"Science is divided on those issues," Inhofe said. "The corporations are divided. Some of them have multinational arrangements where, it is part of their benefit to be a part of something, and some are not that case."

"From the experience that we had going back as far as the Copenhagen arrangement, China at that time was very anxious for America to be pulling out if they could, because they would be getting our manufacturing base," said Inhofe.

He also denied claims from some who say the Paris accord is a treaty and must receive a Senate vote.

"If it were changed to a treaty, I would vote against it, but nonetheless it would come to the Senate," said Inhofe. "We had this before the Senate five times since 2002, and they have rejected it every time either in the form of a regulation or legislation. Keep in mind they first tried to do it with legislation, and that didn't work."

• Analysts: Leaving Climate Deal Likely Wouldn't Add US Jobs
• Ruddy: Trump Should Kick Paris Accord Over to Senate