Trump dismisses need for climate change action: ‘We have the cleanest water we’ve ever had, we have the cleanest air’

Donald Trump has again dismissed the need to tackle climate change by saying the US has the cleanest air and water “ever”.

The president, speaking at the G20 Summit in Japan, also claimed that wind power “does not work” because it has to be heavily subsidised.

“We have the cleanest water we have ever had, we have the cleanest air we’ve ever had, but I’m not willing to sacrifice the tremendous power of what we’ve built up over a long period of time and what I’ve enhanced and revived,” he said.

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

“I’m not sure that I agree with certain countries with what they are doing, they are losing a lot of power. I am talking about the powering of a plant.

“It doesn’t always work with a windmill. When the wind goes off, the plant isn’t working. It doesn’t always work with solar because solar’s just not strong enough, and a lot of them want to go to wind, which has caused a lot of problems.

“Wind doesn’t work for the most part without subsidy. The United States is paying tremendous amounts of subsidies for wind. I don’t like it, I don’t like it.”

Shape Created with Sketch. Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage Show all 25 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Coral reefs: Trying to combat climate change damage 1/25 Masked Butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus) swimming over a bommie reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed, off the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula AFP/Getty 2/25 Rising sea temperatures cause corals to bleach (go white) and die Getty/iStock 3/25 A giant clam is seen nestled among coral reefs at the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah AFP/Gett 4/25 Coral reef in seychelles that has degraded After the reef has died they break up and become rubble. On this reef there is some regrowth of young corals so there is hope for recovery Getty 5/25 Coral gardening A rabbitfish in a net H Goehlich 6/25 A school of fish and a sea can in a healthy coral reef off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico Getty/Lumix 7/25 Sky views of great barrier reef in Australia Getty/iStock 8/25 A fish swims among coral reefs at the Obhor coast AFP/Getty 9/25 Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth while scuba diving in the Red Sea AFP/Getty 10/25 Coral gardening A rope nursery Nature Seychelles 11/25 Fish swimming off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The rebounding tourism sector is worrisome for the fragile marine ecosystem AFP/Getty 12/25 Coral gardening A parrotfish on the reef C Reveret 13/25 Gorgonian sea fan on a a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed AFP/Getty 14/25 A diver swims during a Great Barrier Reef experience on Lady Elliot Island, Australia Getty/Tourism Queensland 15/25 Jessica Bellsworthy, a PhD student conducting research on the coral reefs of the Gulf of Eilat, holds a coral in an aquarium at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat AFP/Getty 16/25 Coral reefs in the water off the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah in 2008 AFP/Getty 17/25 A diver photographs golden anthias (Pseudanthias aurulentus) on a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed AFP/Getty 18/25 Getty/Lumix 19/25 AFP/Getty 20/25 Coral gardening A damselfish Sarah Frias-Torres 21/25 Divers swim past a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve AFP/Getty 22/25 A puffer fish hovering above coral in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve AFP/Getty 23/25 Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth while scuba diving on June 12, 2017 in the Red Sea off Eilat. Global warming has in recent years caused colourful coral reefs to bleach and die around the world -- but not in the Gulf of Eilat, or Aqaba, part of the northern Red Sea. At the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in southern Israeli resort city Eilat, dozens of aquariums have been lined up in rows just off the Red Sea shore containing samples of local corals AFP/Getty 24/25 AFP/Getty 25/25 fish swimming off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada AFP/Getty 1/25 Masked Butterflyfish (Chaetodon semilarvatus) swimming over a bommie reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed, off the southern tip of the Sinai peninsula AFP/Getty 2/25 Rising sea temperatures cause corals to bleach (go white) and die Getty/iStock 3/25 A giant clam is seen nestled among coral reefs at the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah AFP/Gett 4/25 Coral reef in seychelles that has degraded After the reef has died they break up and become rubble. On this reef there is some regrowth of young corals so there is hope for recovery Getty 5/25 Coral gardening A rabbitfish in a net H Goehlich 6/25 A school of fish and a sea can in a healthy coral reef off the coast of Isla Mujeres, Mexico Getty/Lumix 7/25 Sky views of great barrier reef in Australia Getty/iStock 8/25 A fish swims among coral reefs at the Obhor coast AFP/Getty 9/25 Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth while scuba diving in the Red Sea AFP/Getty 10/25 Coral gardening A rope nursery Nature Seychelles 11/25 Fish swimming off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada. The rebounding tourism sector is worrisome for the fragile marine ecosystem AFP/Getty 12/25 Coral gardening A parrotfish on the reef C Reveret 13/25 Gorgonian sea fan on a a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed AFP/Getty 14/25 A diver swims during a Great Barrier Reef experience on Lady Elliot Island, Australia Getty/Tourism Queensland 15/25 Jessica Bellsworthy, a PhD student conducting research on the coral reefs of the Gulf of Eilat, holds a coral in an aquarium at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat AFP/Getty 16/25 Coral reefs in the water off the Obhor coast, 30 kms north of the Red Sea city of Jeddah in 2008 AFP/Getty 17/25 A diver photographs golden anthias (Pseudanthias aurulentus) on a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve of Ras Mohamed AFP/Getty 18/25 Getty/Lumix 19/25 AFP/Getty 20/25 Coral gardening A damselfish Sarah Frias-Torres 21/25 Divers swim past a coral reef in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve AFP/Getty 22/25 A puffer fish hovering above coral in the Egyptian Red Sea marine reserve AFP/Getty 23/25 Researchers from the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in the southern Israeli resort city Eilat monitor coral growth while scuba diving on June 12, 2017 in the Red Sea off Eilat. Global warming has in recent years caused colourful coral reefs to bleach and die around the world -- but not in the Gulf of Eilat, or Aqaba, part of the northern Red Sea. At the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in southern Israeli resort city Eilat, dozens of aquariums have been lined up in rows just off the Red Sea shore containing samples of local corals AFP/Getty 24/25 AFP/Getty 25/25 fish swimming off the coast of Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada AFP/Getty

Defending his decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Accord, Mr Trump denied he was “ignoring” the problem but claimed that trying to take action on global warming would affect the American economy.

“We have the best numbers we’ve ever had recently, and I’m not looking to put our companies out of business,” he said.

“I’m not looking to create a standard that is so high that we’re going to lose 20 to 25 per cent of our production.”

The president has previously described climate change as a “hoax” and dismissed the problem as a “change in the weather”.

In previous interviews and on campaign rallies he has claimed the US has “among the cleanest climates”.

However, earlier this week vice-president Mike Pence, when asked if climate change was a threat, said “America has the cleanest air and water in the world”.

Challenged about the truth of this statement, he replied: “Ahh, but we’re making progress on reducing carbon emissions.”