Donald Trump Elicits Groans Over Climate Agreement Comments at G20

President Donald Trump submitted a pre-recorded speech for the virtual G20 climate event on Sunday, and his commentary baffled environmentalists online. Trump's speech on the final day of the international summit focused on the soaring profits of oil and natural gas production in the U.S., rather than on protecting natural resources. Trump also impugned the Paris climate accord, which he pulled the U.S. out of during his presidency.

Trump got a lot of criticism online for his final appearance at the G20 summit as president. According to a report by CNN, he spoke from the White House's Diplomatic Room, in a pre-recorded speech that aired during the virtual event with other world leaders. Trump continued to condemn the Paris agreement, claiming that it "was not designed to save the environment, it was designed to kill the American economy."

"I refuse to surrender millions of American jobs and send trillions of American dollars to the world's worst polluters and environmental offenders, and that's what would have happened," Trump claimed. He also called the international environmental pact "one-sided," though President-elect Joe Biden says that he will re-enter the agreement as soon as he is sworn in in January.

Trump's commentary was far out of tune with the rest of the speakers at the event, leading some social media critics to wonder whether he had watched any other parts of the summit at all. Trump's participation in the G20 summit was uncertain from the start, and on Saturday, he appeared in the summit from the White House Situation Room, though at the same time he was tweeting conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election out of frame.

Later in the afternoon, Trump was at his private golf course while the remainder of the summit took place. All in all, viewers wondered how Trump could condemn something so fully without listening to the experts on the topic at the esteemed event. Here is a look at the backlash Trump got.