Trump dismisses climate change as 'change in weather' after holding talks with Prince Charles
‘I totally listened to him,’ says US president. ‘He is really into climate change’
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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Donald Trump dismissed climate change as “a change in weather” just hours after holding talks on the issue with Prince Charles.
The US president revealed how the future king spent 90 minutes lobbying him to take action to help save the world for future generations.
Mr Trump, who has previously described climate change as a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, claimed that the prince “did most of the talking” but did not reveal whether it had any effect on his views.
“He is really into climate change,” Mr Trump told Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “I like that... I totally listened to him.
“He wants to make sure future generations have climate that is good climate and that is not a disaster.
“I think we had a great conversation,” the president added. “I tell you what moved me is his passion for future generations.
“This is real, he believes that, he wants to have a world that is good for future generations and I do, too.”
But when asked if he believed in climate change, Mr Trump replied: “I believe that there is a change in weather and I think it changes both ways.
“Don’t forget it used to be called global warming, that wasn’t working, then it’s climate change, now it’s extreme weather.”
He argued that the US had experienced worse weather in the past, referring to hurricanes in the 1890s.
Mr Trump also claimed that the US was “among the cleanest climates” and blamed China, Russia and India for high pollution, suggesting that “in some other cities you can’t even breathe.”
It came as Joe Biden, the forerunner for the Democrat 2020 presidential nomination, released a climate change plan that would pour $1.7 trillion (£1.3 trillion) of investment into achieving 100 per cent clean energy and net-zero emissions by 2050.
His campaign team later admitted that parts of the proposals were copied word-for-word from texts previously published by climate activist groups Blue Green Alliance and the Carbon Capture Coalition.
Mr Biden’s team said the citations of the sources had been “inadvertently left out”.
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