After much speculation, President Donald Trump will announce Thursday that he has decided to withdraw the U.S. from the landmark Paris climate agreement.
Trump previously told aides he intends to pull out of the agreement but had not decided exactly how to do it. Even as reports in multiple news outlets Wednesday indicated that Trump planned to leave the accord, the President declined to confirm or deny anything publicly, only saying on Twitter late Wednesday that he would be making his announcement Thursday.
Only two of the 197 nations in the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change declined to sign the agreement: Nicaragua and Syria. The former declined to sign because of concerns the agreement would not do enough to combat climate change.
News that Trump would leave the agreement immediately drew condemnation from Democratic lawmakers and prominent business leaders like Elon Musk.
Trump’s announcement is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. E.T. You can watch it live above.
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Write to Alana Abramson at Alana.Abramson@time.com