Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Wednesday refused to comment on Donald Trump’s plan to scuttle the Paris climate deal if elected president, and said any discussion of rolling back the deal is hypothetical.
“I am not going to comment on any individual candidate’s positions,” Moniz said at a policy breakfast hosted by Politico Wednesday.
Trump had told Reuters on Tuesday that he would seek to renegotiate the Paris climate deal once in the Oval Office, and said he had “big” problems with the international agreement to combat global warming.
Moniz did explain that there is a stipulation in the Paris deal that brings countries to the table every five years to discuss their obligations. It is the administration’s hope that countries would use that time to increase their efforts to combat climate change by pledging to do more, not scuttle their obligations altogether, he suggested. Moniz said any discussion of moving back from the talks would be “hypothetical” at this point.
But it was clear that a gag order of sorts was in effect during Moniz’s public remarks. Moniz started the discussion by saying he would not be commenting on Trump, although he did not mention the names of any political candidates.
“Let me make it very clear, I am not going to comment on any candidates,” he said, after being asked how the international community is responding to the political race in the United States. “Obviously, there is a lot of… attention paid to what’s going on in the United States.”
“There is a lot of concern and confusion over the political discourse going on, but our job is to reiterate what our policies are,” he explained.
He was asked again whether his foreign counterparts ask him about Trump.
After a long pause, Moniz said, “As I’ve said, I’m not going to comment on the policies of any individual candidate,” drawing laughter from the packed audience at the event.
