French president-elect tells Trump he will defend climate deal: Macron spokeswoman

In a conference call organized by the liberal Center for American Progress, Brian Deese, a climate adviser to former President Barack Obama, said that "the race is on for which countries are going to be the 21st century clean energy super-powers".

Some fear a USA withdrawal from the agreement would dampen enthusiasm among other signatories for ramping up national emissions-cutting targets.

Ted Halstead, president of the Climate Leadership Council, said that "there is a almost unanimous position on the part of big business".

Administration lawyers have warned that such a downward adjustment in carbon reduction could lead to lawsuits, putting another White House policy in the hands of the courts amid ongoing legal challenges to Trump's proposed visa ban and his vow to strip "sanctuary cities" of federal funding. A move to exit the global emissions-cutting deal has been expected ever since Trump was elected president.

He added that the fact the Trump administration had differences of opinion with him was "part of democracy". A recent letter signed by BP, Shell, and Rio Tinto informed Trump that the Paris deal "expands markets for innovative clean technologies, generating jobs and economic growth" adding that "climate change presents U.S. companies with both business risks and business opportunities".

The speech is Obama's first overseas since leaving office in January, and the former president appeared relaxed, ditching his usual tie for an unbuttoned collar.

Climate change "is a very important and sensitive issue for the French". "It was the first time they spoke together".

After months of uncertainty, Trump appears to be edging toward a decision on whether to honor the 2015 deal to limit global warming.

But the White House postponed a key meeting scheduled for Tuesday that could have determined the fate of the 196-nation accord, and hours later said there would be no decision before the end of the month.

"But it won't happen without clear, stable policy signals from countries worldwide - in particular, the United States government whose waffling on the Paris Climate Agreement is hugely troubling", she said in a statement. But Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has said called the Paris pact "a bad deal for America".

Traut and others said scaling back U.S. targets to reduce emissions could set a precedent for other countries to do the same.

While campaigning previous year, Trump called climate change a hoax perpetrated by China, and promised to cancel the deal if he won the presidency.

In March, Trump signed an executive order created to prioritize American jobs over addressing climate change.

However, people who drafted the Paris agreement during the Obama administration insist the language wasn't meant to require only upward shifts in carbon reduction targets.

The 11-day Bonn meeting will focus on drafting a guide for member countries on how to execute the pact and curb fossil fuel emissions.

It came into force in November 2016.

So far, 145 countries have ratified or accepted it, including China, the world's top polluter.