Walking away from treaties is an American tradition

In other cases, the rest of the world just went ahead and put the treaty into effect anyway—and American defection didn’t destroy the deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said goodbye to the Paris climate change agreement, but the American absence will not sabotage the deal, writes Gwynne Dyer.White House photograph by Andrea Hanks

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

June 7, 2017

LONDON, U.K.—It’s not just Donald Trump. The United States has a long record of negotiating international agreements and then running away from them. The rest of the world has an equally long record of heaving a sigh of regret, telling the Americans it will be happy to have them back when they g...

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