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A German far-right party wins its first state election and is very close in a second

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A German far-right party wins its first state election and is very close in a second
News

News

A German far-right party wins its first state election and is very close in a second

2024-09-02 05:38 Last Updated At:05:41

BERLIN (AP) — A far-right party won a state election for the first time in post-World War II Germany in the country’s east on Sunday, and looked set to finish a very close second to mainstream conservatives in a second vote.

A new party founded by a prominent leftist also made a strong impact, while the parties in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular national government obtained extremely weak results.

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Protesters light pyrotechnics during a rally against the growth of right-wing parties in the state elections for Saxony, in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

Protesters light pyrotechnics during a rally against the growth of right-wing parties in the state elections for Saxony, in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

Police officers detain men during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Police officers detain men during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People carry a banner reads "Against "Remigration" and "Repatriation Improvement Act - Against War and Fascism" during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People carry a banner reads "Against "Remigration" and "Repatriation Improvement Act - Against War and Fascism" during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, prepares for an interview during the state election for Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, prepares for an interview during the state election for Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Police officers guard during a anti-fascist rally following the results of the state elections in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Reichel/dpa via AP)

Police officers guard during a anti-fascist rally following the results of the state elections in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Reichel/dpa via AP)

Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke), waits for results on the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke), waits for results on the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Mario Voigt, center, speaks after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Mario Voigt, center, speaks after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

BSW party chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht speaks at the BSW election party after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP) Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

BSW party chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht speaks at the BSW election party after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP) Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Participants in a demonstration against the right hold a banner reading "Fascism is not an opinion, it's a crime!" in Hamburg, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)

Participants in a demonstration against the right hold a banner reading "Fascism is not an opinion, it's a crime!" in Hamburg, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, gestures as he walks through the state parliament, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, gestures as he walks through the state parliament, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP)

Election campaign posters of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, with top candidate Mario Voigt and of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance are displayed at a lamp post in Jena, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. State elections in Thuringia and Saxony scheduled on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024, in the eastern Germany states. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Election campaign posters of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, with top candidate Mario Voigt and of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance are displayed at a lamp post in Jena, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. State elections in Thuringia and Saxony scheduled on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024, in the eastern Germany states. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

An electoral poster for the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, using the slogan "The Sun Rises in the East", is displayed in a street in the federal state Thuringia city Jena, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

An electoral poster for the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, using the slogan "The Sun Rises in the East", is displayed in a street in the federal state Thuringia city Jena, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Bjoern Hoecke top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, party waves to supporters during an election campaign rally in Suhl, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Bjoern Hoecke top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, party waves to supporters during an election campaign rally in Suhl, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Sahra Wagenknecht, left, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Katja Wolf, Thuringian BSW State Chairwoman and top candidate for the state election in Thuringia 2024, and Christian Leye, BSW General Secretary, stand together on stage after an attack with red paint at the election campaign event on Domplatz, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Sahra Wagenknecht, left, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Katja Wolf, Thuringian BSW State Chairwoman and top candidate for the state election in Thuringia 2024, and Christian Leye, BSW General Secretary, stand together on stage after an attack with red paint at the election campaign event on Domplatz, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Petra K'pping, Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs and SPD lead candidate for the 2024 state election in Saxony, welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the SPD's election campaign finale, in Chemnitz, Germany, Friday Aug. 30, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Petra K'pping, Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs and SPD lead candidate for the 2024 state election in Saxony, welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the SPD's election campaign finale, in Chemnitz, Germany, Friday Aug. 30, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, speaks on an election campaign rally of the party for upcoming state elections in Suhl, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, speaks on an election campaign rally of the party for upcoming state elections in Suhl, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 32.8% of the vote in Thuringia — well ahead of the center-right Christian Democratic Union, the main national opposition party, with 23.6%.

In neighboring Saxony, projections for ARD and ZDF public television with the count well advanced put support for the CDU, which has led the state since German reunification in 1990, at 31.9% and AfD on 30.6-30.7%. AfD made substantial gains in Thuringia and smaller ones in Saxony compared with the last state elections in 2019.

“An openly right-wing extremist party has become the strongest force in a state parliament for the first time since 1949, and that causes many people very deep concern and fear,” said Omid Nouripour, a leader of the Greens, one of the national governing parties.

Other parties say they won't put AfD in power by joining it in a coalition. Even so, its strength is likely to make it extremely difficult to form new state governments, forcing other parties into exotic new coalitions. The new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, took 15.8% of the vote in Thuringia and nearly 12% in Saxony, adding another level of complication.

“This is a historic success for us,” Alice Weidel, a national co-leader of AfD, told ARD. She described the result as a “requiem” for Scholz's coalition.

The CDU's national general secretary, Carsten Linnemann, said that “voters in both states knew that we wouldn't form a coalition with AfD, and it will stay that way — we are very, very clear on this."

Weidel denounced that as “pure ignorance” and said that “voters want AfD to participate in a government.”

Deep discontent with a national government notorious for infighting, anti-immigration sentiment and skepticism toward German military aid for Ukraine are among the factors that have contributed to support for populist parties in the region, which is less prosperous than western Germany.

AfD is at its strongest in the formerly communist east, and the domestic intelligence agency has the party’s branches in both Saxony and Thuringia under official surveillance as “proven right-wing extremist” groups. Its leader in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has been convicted of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at political events, but is appealing.

Höcke bristled when an ARD interviewer mentioned the intelligence agency's assessment, responding: “Please stop stigmatizing me. We are the No. 1 party in Thuringia. You don’t want to classify one-third of the voters in Thuringia as right-wing extremist.”

He said he felt “a great, great deal of pride” in Sunday's result for his 11-year-old party and “the old parties should show humility.”

Scholz's center-left Social Democrats at least stayed in the two state legislatures with single-digit support, but the environmentalist Greens lost their seats in Thuringia. The two parties were the junior coalition partners in both outgoing state governments. The third party in the national government, the pro-business Free Democrats, also lost its seats in Thuringia. It already had no representation in Saxony.

A third state election follows Sept. 22 in another eastern state, Brandenburg, currently led by Scholz's party. Germany's next national election is due in a little over a year.

Thuringia’s politics are particularly complicated because the Left Party of outgoing governor Bodo Ramelow has slumped into electoral insignificance nationally. It lost more than half its support compared with five years ago, dropping to 13.1%.

Sahra Wagenknecht, long one of its best-known figures, left last year to form her own party, which is now outperforming the Left. Wagenknecht celebrated that party's success, underlined its refusal to work with AfD's Höcke and said she hopes it can form “a good government” with the CDU.

The CDU has long refused to work with the Left Party, descended from East Germany’s ruling communists. It hasn’t ruled out working with Wagenknecht’s BSW, which also is at its strongest in the east. But the result means the CDU can't put together a coalition that has a majority in Thuringia's legislature without the Left Party.

AfD has tapped into high anti-immigration sentiment in the region. The Aug. 23 knife attack in the western city of Solingen in which a suspected extremist from Syria is accused of killing three people helped push the issue back to the top of Germany's political agenda, and prompted Scholz's government to announce new restrictions on knives and new measures to ease deportations.

Wagenknecht’s BSW combines left-wing economic policy with an immigration-skeptic agenda. The CDU has also stepped up pressure on the national government for a tougher stance on immigration.

Germany’s stance toward Russia’s war in Ukraine is also a sensitive issue in the east. Berlin is Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the United States; those weapons deliveries are something both AfD and BSW oppose. Wagenknecht has also assailed a recent decision by the German government and the U.S. to begin deployments of long-range missiles to Germany in 2026.

Protesters light pyrotechnics during a rally against the growth of right-wing parties in the state elections for Saxony, in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

Protesters light pyrotechnics during a rally against the growth of right-wing parties in the state elections for Saxony, in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Sebastian Willnow/dpa via AP)

Police officers detain men during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Police officers detain men during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People carry a banner reads "Against "Remigration" and "Repatriation Improvement Act - Against War and Fascism" during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People carry a banner reads "Against "Remigration" and "Repatriation Improvement Act - Against War and Fascism" during a protest against an election party of AfD supporters for the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, prepares for an interview during the state election for Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, prepares for an interview during the state election for Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Police officers guard during a anti-fascist rally following the results of the state elections in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Reichel/dpa via AP)

Police officers guard during a anti-fascist rally following the results of the state elections in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Reichel/dpa via AP)

Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke), waits for results on the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bodo Ramelow (Die Linke), waits for results on the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Mario Voigt, center, speaks after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Mario Voigt, center, speaks after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

BSW party chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht speaks at the BSW election party after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP) Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

BSW party chairwoman Sahra Wagenknecht speaks at the BSW election party after the first exit polls for the state elections in Thuringia and Saxony are released, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP) Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Bjorn Hecke (AfD) after the publication of the first forecasts for the state election in Saxony and Thuringia, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday Sept. 1, 2024.. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

Participants in a demonstration against the right hold a banner reading "Fascism is not an opinion, it's a crime!" in Hamburg, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)

Participants in a demonstration against the right hold a banner reading "Fascism is not an opinion, it's a crime!" in Hamburg, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Marks/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, gestures as he walks through the state parliament, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, gestures as he walks through the state parliament, in Erfurt, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Bodo Schackow/dpa via AP)

Election campaign posters of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, with top candidate Mario Voigt and of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance are displayed at a lamp post in Jena, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. State elections in Thuringia and Saxony scheduled on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024, in the eastern Germany states. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Election campaign posters of the Christian Democratic Union party, CDU, with top candidate Mario Voigt and of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance are displayed at a lamp post in Jena, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. State elections in Thuringia and Saxony scheduled on Sunday Sept. 1, 2024, in the eastern Germany states. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

An electoral poster for the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, using the slogan "The Sun Rises in the East", is displayed in a street in the federal state Thuringia city Jena, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

An electoral poster for the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, using the slogan "The Sun Rises in the East", is displayed in a street in the federal state Thuringia city Jena, Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Bjoern Hoecke top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, party waves to supporters during an election campaign rally in Suhl, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Bjoern Hoecke top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, party waves to supporters during an election campaign rally in Suhl, Germany, Aug. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Sahra Wagenknecht, left, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Katja Wolf, Thuringian BSW State Chairwoman and top candidate for the state election in Thuringia 2024, and Christian Leye, BSW General Secretary, stand together on stage after an attack with red paint at the election campaign event on Domplatz, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Sahra Wagenknecht, left, Chairwoman of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), Katja Wolf, Thuringian BSW State Chairwoman and top candidate for the state election in Thuringia 2024, and Christian Leye, BSW General Secretary, stand together on stage after an attack with red paint at the election campaign event on Domplatz, in Erfurt, Germany, Thursday Aug. 29, 2024. (Martin Schutt/dpa via AP)

Petra K'pping, Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs and SPD lead candidate for the 2024 state election in Saxony, welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the SPD's election campaign finale, in Chemnitz, Germany, Friday Aug. 30, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Petra K'pping, Saxony's Minister of Social Affairs and SPD lead candidate for the 2024 state election in Saxony, welcomes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the SPD's election campaign finale, in Chemnitz, Germany, Friday Aug. 30, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, speaks on an election campaign rally of the party for upcoming state elections in Suhl, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, speaks on an election campaign rally of the party for upcoming state elections in Suhl, Germany, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. In the federal state Thuringia, in former East Germany, the citizens are called to vote for a new state parliament on Sept. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the United States to again withdraw from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and once again distancing the U.S. from its closest allies.

Trump's action, hours after he was sworn in to a second term, echoed his directive in 2017, when he announced that the U.S. would abandon the global Paris accord. The pact is aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels or, failing that, keeping temperatures at least well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels.

Trump also signed a letter to the United Nations indicating his intention to withdraw from the 2015 agreement, which allows nations to provide targets to cut their own emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. Those targets are supposed to become more stringent over time, with countries facing a February 2025 deadline for new individual plans. The outgoing Biden administration last month offered a plan to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035.

Trump's order says the Paris accord is among a number of international agreements that don't reflect U.S. values and “steer American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people."

Instead of joining a global agreement, “the United States’ successful track record of advancing both economic and environmental objectives should be a model for other countries,'' Trump said.

Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation and a key architect of the Paris accord, called the planned U.S. withdrawal unfortunate but said action to slow climate change “is stronger than any single country’s politics and policies."

The global context for Trump's action is “very different to 2017,'' Tubiana said Monday, adding that “there is unstoppable economic momentum behind the global transition, which the U.S has gained from and led but now risks forfeiting."

The International Energy Agency expects the global market for key clean energy technologies to triple to more than $2 trillion by 2035, she said.

“The impacts of the climate crisis are also worsening. The terrible wildfires in Los Angeles are the latest reminder that Americans, like everyone else, are affected by worsening climate change,” Tubiana said.

Gina McCarthy, who served as White House climate adviser under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, said that if Trump, a Republican, “truly wants America to lead the global economy, become energy independent and create good-paying American jobs," then he must “stay focused on growing our clean energy industry. Clean technologies are driving down energy costs for people all across our country."

The world is now long-term 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.3 degrees Celsius) above mid-1800s temperatures. Most but not all climate monitoring agencies said global temperatures last year passed the warming mark of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, and all said it was the warmest year on record.

The withdrawal process from the Paris accord takes one year. Trump’s previous withdrawal took effect the day after the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Biden.

While the first Trump-led withdrawal from the landmark U.N. agreement — adopted by 196 nations — shocked and angered nations across the globe, “not a single country followed the U.S. out the door,” said Alden Meyer, a longtime climate negotiations analyst with the European think tank E3G.

Instead, other nations renewed their commitment to slowing climate change, along with investors, businesses, governors, mayors and others in the U.S., Meyer and other experts said.

Still, they lamented the loss of U.S. leadership in global efforts to slow climate change, even as the world is on track to set yet another record hot year and has been lurching from drought to hurricane to flood to wildfire.

“Clearly America is not going to play the commanding role in helping solve the climate crisis, the greatest dilemma humans have ever encountered,″ said climate activist and writer Bill McKibben. “For the next few years the best we can hope is that Washington won’t manage to wreck the efforts of others.”

About half of Americans “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose U.S. action to withdraw from the climate accord, and even Republicans aren’t overwhelmingly in favor, according according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults “somewhat” or “strongly” in favor of withdrawing from the Paris agreement, while about one-quarter are neutral.

Much of the opposition to U.S. withdrawal comes from Democrats, but Republicans display some ambivalence as well. Slightly less than half of Republicans are in favor of withdrawing from the climate accord, while about 2 in 10 are opposed.

China several years ago passed the United States as the world's largest annual carbon dioxide emitting nation. The U.S. — the second biggest annual carbon polluting country — put 4.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in the air in 2023, down 11% from a decade earlier, according to the scientists who track emissions for the Global Carbon Project.

But carbon dioxide lasts in the atmosphere for centuries, so the United States has put more of the heat-trapping gas that is now in the air than any other nation. The U.S. is responsible for nearly 22% of the carbon dioxide put in the atmosphere since 1950, according to Global Carbon Project.

While global efforts to fight climate change continued during Trump's first term, many experts worry that a second Trump term will be more damaging, with the United States withdrawing even further from climate efforts in a way that could cripple future presidents’ efforts. With Trump, who has dismissed climate change, in charge of the world’s leading economy, those experts fear other countries, especially China, could use it as an excuse to ease off their own efforts to curb carbon emissions.

Simon Stiell, the U.N. climate change executive secretary, held out hope that the U.S. would continue to embrace the global clean energy boom.

“Ignoring it only sends all that vast wealth to competitor economies, while climate disasters like droughts, wildfires and superstorms keep getting worse," Stiell said. “The door remains open to the Paris Agreement, and we welcome constructive engagement from any and all countries.”

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant, operates in Petersburg, Ind., on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

FILE - Wind turbines stretch across the horizon at dusk at the Spearville Wind Farm, Sept. 29, 2024, near Spearville, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

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President Donald Trump gestures during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)

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