‘Fool Me Once’ – US Officials to Skip UN Climate Talks Trump Derided as ‘Scam’

Pavilions at the Parque da Cidade, the main venue for the COP30 summit, in Belem, Brazil. Photographer: Alessandro Falco/Bloomberg

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High-level US representatives are staying away from the UN climate negotiations in Brazil, even as President Donald Trump seeks to influence energy policy globally.

The plan to forgo senior representation at the COP30 climate summit, described by a White House official, comes as other world leaders — including Chinese President Xi Jinping — are also set to skip summit events beginning next week in Belém, Brazil. Although 143 nations will have delegations at the UN negotiations, just 57 heads of state and government are now slated to attend official summit events, the COP30 presidency said in Brasília on Friday.

“The US is not sending any high-level representatives to COP30,” the White House official said. “The president is directly engaging with leaders around the world on energy issues, which you can see from the historic trade deals and peace deals that all have significant focus on energy partnerships.”

The decision is consistent with Trump’s focus on using American oil, gas and coal to achieve “energy dominance” — as well as his scorn for efforts to combat climate change, which he’s derided as a “green scam.” It also underscores the president’s emphasis on one-on-one engagement with other countries instead of multilateral fora. That approach was on full display during Trump’s just-concluded visit to Malaysia, Japan and Korea, where he announced new trade and critical minerals pacts with individual nations.

It’s unclear whether other US officials — including career diplomats at the State Department — will attend the COP30 climate summit. Although Trump moved to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement hours after his inauguration in January, a waiting period under the accord means the exit doesn’t take effect until Jan. 27, 2026. And the US remains a party to the underlying United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

During Trump’s first term, the president dispatched some political appointees and career diplomats to the annual climate talks, with the US hosting a session to showcase “cleaner and more efficient fossil fuels” as well as nuclear power in 2017.

The Trump administration also deployed officials to combat a planned global tax on shipping emissions earlier this month. The US representatives worked alongside Saudi Arabia and other nations to delay a decision on what would have been the first-ever fixed global carbon tax.

China is set to be represented at COP30 by Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee as well as vice premier of the State Council. Ding will attend a leaders’ summit on climate on Nov. 6 as Xi’s special representative, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, according to state media.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also expected to stay at home due to a busy travel schedule, according to the Australian Financial Review.

— With assistance from Fabiano Maisonnave and John Ainger