In a speech at the White House on June 1, Donald Trump said, “China will be allowed to build hundreds of additional coal plants. So we can’t build the plants, but they can, according to this (Paris) agreement.”
Our ruling
Trump said that the Paris agreement allows China “to build hundreds of additional coal plants,” while the United States can’t. The White House offered no legal argument to back that up, and the text of the agreement fails to support it. The Paris agreement never mentions the word coal, and in Trump’s own words, it is nonbinding.
It forces neither China nor the United States to do or not do anything.
China’s voluntary plan to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions does allow emissions to rise until 2030, but it also moves the country away from reliance on coal, and the tangible results have been the cancellation of over 100 new coal-fired plants.
Neither the law nor realities on the ground support Trump’s statement.
We rate this claim False.
To read the full fact check, go to politifact.com.