Not sure how Trump can pull us out of the Paris Accord
Article 28 paragraph 1 of that accord states that a state can withdraw from the accord after three years have passed since the state has ratified the accord. The US ratified the accord on 3 Sep 2016. The earliest we can submit withdraw notification would be 3 Sep 2019 and we would still be bound by the agreement until 3 Sep 2020 at the earliest.
Also, it is unclear whether a president can unilaterally withdraw from a treaty that has been ratified by the Senate. This has happened only once and the SCotUS refused to hear the challenge. Withdrawing from this treaty may take a senate action.
Now, Trump could just decide to remain a ratified signatory of the accord and just ignore it.
Which would not be that hard to do as the Paris Accord has very few measurable requirements on the signatories and no enforcement on those signatories that do not follow the accord... which may explain why so many countries were eager to sign this accord. It sounds good, but does not really accomplish much.
The Paris Accord is not a well written accord.
===edit===
Further research showed that this may not be as simple as I first thought
It all depends on the interpretation of "ratified" which, strangely, can be complicated.
The United States considers ratification as being from the legislative branch, specifically the Senate. Our constitution requires the Senate, and only the Senate, to ratify treaties.
The United States can enter into agreements without the mechanism of treaties.
There are Executive agreements - made by the President
There are Congressional-Executive agreements -- made by the President and a simple majority of both the House and the Senate
The Paris Accord, evidently, falls into an Executive agreement as it has never been put to the Senate for ratification. So it should be pretty clear whether the US has ratified the Paris Accord, right?
Well, no.
The United Nations, considers a treaty to be ratified if the specific country has a mechanism for ratifying treaties. Some countries are prevented by their constitution to ratify constitutions so there are different terms used that represent essentially the same thing.
In the case of the Paris Accord (never referred to as a Paris Treaty), it is an agreement based on another treaty. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a treaty that the United States signed and was ratified by the Senate. The Paris Accord keys off of the terms of the UNFCCC. This is why it is an accord and not a separate treaty.
However, the UN asked for and has received ratification from the nation members that have ratified the UNFCC. So in some ways, the UN is treating the Paris Accords as a separate treaty-- which it kinds is and kinda ain't.
So now the complicated question is can Trump withdraw from the accord while not withdrawing from the UNFCCC? That is not an easy question to answer.
But in any case, I wanted to amend my post to more accurately report that the Paris Accord is an Executive agreement and has not, under US law, been ratified by the Senate; but is considered ratified by international bodies.
Most complex and confusing.
