US President Donald Trump, responding to a question about climate change after skipping a G7 session on the issue, said on Monday that American wealth is based on energy and he will not jeopardize that for "dreams" and "windmills."
Trump, who in 2017 pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord involving nearly 200 countries and has described global warming as a "hoax," also sought to portray himself as an environmentalist at a news conference at the close of the G-7 summit in France.
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"I feel that the United States has tremendous wealth. The wealth is under its feet. I've made that wealth come alive. ... We are now the No. 1 energy producer in the world, and soon it will be by far," Trump told reporters when asked about his views on climate change.
"I'm not going to lose that wealth, I'm not going to lose it on dreams, on windmills, which frankly aren't working too well," he added.
Trump's administration has reversed US environmental protections put in place by his predecessor Barack Obama and has weakened the Endangered Species Act wildlife conservation law.
The US president skipped a session on climate change and biodiversity at the summit, instead holding bilateral meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The G-7 leaders discussed the rainforest fires in Brazil and agreed to draw up an initiative for the Amazon to be launched at the UN General Assembly in New York next month.
French President Emmanuel Macron downplayed Trump's absence.
"He wasn't in the room, but his team was," Macron said. "You shouldn't read anything into the American president's absence. ... The US is with us on biodiversity and on the Amazon initiative."
Trump called himself an environmentalist, noting that he had filled out so many environmental impact statements as part of his work as a real estate developer.
