Trump to drop climate change from US National Security Strategy

According to The Federalist's website, the US no longer sees climate change as a global threat. After tweeting in November that global warming was created by the Chinese to thwart the US' growing economy and withdrawing his country from the Paris climate accord, on Monday he was expected to announce he was dropping climate change from America's National Security Strategy.

Instead, the new strategy would emphasise the need for the US to regain economic competitiveness, the protection of the country's borders, increasing US influence and ensuring peace by strength, while the main threats posed to the US were deemed to be revisionist nations, rogue regimes and transnational groups.

According to The Federalist's website, an early draft of the strategy stated that: "US leadership is indispensable to countering an anti-growth energy agenda that is detrimental to US economic and energy security interests."

“Much of the developing world will require fossil fuels, as well as other forms of energy, to power their economies and lift their people out of poverty.”

The new focus followed 11 months' of preparation with input from the various government agencies charged with security, foreign policy and economic policy, although James Mattis, the US defense secretary, had disagreed with Trump.

"Climate change is not identified as a national security threat but climate and the importance of the environment and environmental stewardship are discussed," a senior administration official said.

In an unpublished testimony from earlier in 2017, Mattis said the US military should take into account the effects of climate change, how it might affect the nation and the new challenges it could throw up.

"Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today," Mattis said in written answers to questions made after a public hearing with Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.