President Trump’s Unilateral Attempt to Cease All Implementation of the Paris Agreement and to Withdraw from It: Constitutional?

In his announcement, President Trump stated that he would comply with the withdrawal provision in the Paris Agreement. This Essay argues that, while compliance with that process may satisfy the treaty obligation, it probably does not conform to U.S. constitutional standards, and therefore, would not be binding on the United States. The argument demonstrating the failure of the President to satisfy constitutional standards proceeds as follows. Part I develops the context in which the Paris Agreement arose.

Part II briefly summarizes the Paris Agreement. In Part III, I argue that President Trump’s attempt to cease implementation of the Paris Agreement and, in effect, withdraw from the treaty, does not meet U.S. standards required by the Constitution, specifically Article II, § 2, Clause 2.6 Finally, in Part IV, I consider the question posed in the title of this Essay and conclude that the answer is probably “no.” In addition, I discuss the destabilization to global governance that would result if the answer were “yes.