Trump will hardly be missed in Belém by those who are serious about addressing a global crisis

For years, countries around the world pressed the US to engage with them in addressing the climate crisis and to show it was serious about taking action.

- Oliver Milman

Now, with UN climate talks under way in Brazil, other nations have been quietly hoping the US stays away.

Under Donald Trump, who has called the climate crisis “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, the US has not only pulled back from climate action but openly agitated for greater fossil fuel use and for countries to abandon climate policies.

“If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” the US president told the UN general assembly in September. “You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you are going to be great again.”

There was an air of relief among some diplomats when the White House said no high-level representatives would attend the Cop30 summit in Belém, Brazil. “President Trump will not jeopardise our country’s economic and national security to pursue vague climate goals that are killing other countries,” a White House spokesperson said.

Washington’s commitment to curb global heating has waxed and waned over the years but the US now appears to be actively fighting for the other side.

“Before, it was benign neglect, even in Trump’s first term,” said a former senior US state department official. “Now it’s quite the opposite. They don't want to participate and don't want others to, either.

“If the choice is no US or a US that is there as a spoiler to wreck and disrupt things, then I think most countries would prefer there to be no US,” they added.

“I mean, we are now to the right of Saudi Arabia, when you think about it. The Saudis negotiate hard, but they are OK with the Paris agreement. They aren’t against the word climate.”

Trump was not present at a summit held last week as a curtain raiser for Cop30, though the US president loomed over the event, with the leaders of Colombia and Chile calling him a liar for his rejection of climate science.