Newsom assures California's climate'reliable partners' at the COP30 summit in Brazil
California Governor Gavin Newsom arrived in Belem, an Amazonian city, with a message to the COP30 Summit: despite Washington's abandonment the state will remain a "reliable" partner on climate policy and eco-technology. Newsom, a strident opponent of U.S. president Donald Trump, has been hinting at a presidential run in 2028 for months. He is scheduled to meet officials from some 195 countries that are attending the U.N. Climate Negotiations this year.
He has scheduled meetings with subnational leaders including the Governor of Para in Brazil, where the summit will be held.
California, though only one of the 50 U.S. States, has the fourth largest economy in terms of global GDP. This makes it an important player when it comes to influencing energy and market policy.
He said, "I'm here because the United States has not shown leadership," at a Monday investors' summit in Brazil's financial capital of Sao Paulo. This vacuum is rather shocking.
Newsom has praised California's embracement of green technology, highlighting the fact that there are seven times as many renewable energy jobs in California than there are fossil fuel jobs. He also reminded people that EV company Tesla was founded here. Washington's denial of climate change and its determination to increase global use polluting fossil-fuels is in stark contrast.
Newsom lamented that the U.S. was rolling back its clean energy policies, allowing China to take over the rapidly growing green-tech market.
"China gets it," Newsom told investors. "The United States will be toast in the competitive arena if we do not wake up and see what China is doing, especially on supply chains. They are dominating manufacturing. Newsom stated that China is not only the leader in the market for renewable energy components, batteries and electric vehicles but also the leader in software. U.S. carmakers, like General Motors, are "trying [to] recreate the 19th Century," Newsom said. GM has recently slowed down its production of EVs.
Trump, who falsely declared climate change a fraud, has snubbed the COP30 summit this year. Some diplomats were concerned that Trump's Republican Administration might attempt to disrupt the summit remotely. Newsom, a Democrat from California, announced last month that he was considering a run for the presidency in 2028. He's started to mimic Trump's bold style of social media messaging. California voters last week backed his proposal for redrawing the state's voting district to offset redistricting elsewhere aimed at increasing the number of seats held by Republicans.
Newsom told Sao Paulo investors that Trump is imitating Russia and Saudi Arabia by turning the United States in to a "petro-state" and adopting "state capitalism" of the Chinese style over the free market. He called Trump's aggressive policies on tariffs "madness" from the perspective of an investor.
I feel it's modeled a bit after President Xi and not President Reagan. What the hell is going on? He said.
(source: Reuters)
