President Trump's views on climate change were denounced by several Latin American leaders in Belém, Brazil, on Thursday at the COP30 UN summit.
The big picture: Without naming Trump, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said "extremist forces that fabricate fake news and are condemning future generations to life on a planet altered forever by global warming." Chile and Colombia's leaders both specifically singled out the U.S. president in their COP30 speeches.
What they're saying: Colombian President Gustavo Petro noted that Trump and high-level U.S. representatives were missing from COP30 as it got underway on Thursday, according to a Global News translation.
- "Mr. Trump is against humanity. His absence here demonstrates that," said Petro, whose country was hit with U.S. sanctions last month after Trump threatened tariffs and military action against it.
- Chilean President Gabriel Boric said "the president of the United States at the latest United Nations General Assembly said the climate crisis does not exist. That is a lie," per the translation.
Of note: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted in his COP30 speech "sadly that consensus" on tackling the climate crisis "is gone," while French President Emmanuel Macron said "climate misinformation today poses a threat to our democracies, to the Paris agenda."
The other side: White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement shared with outlets including Axios that Trump "will not allow the best interest of the American people to be jeopardized by the Green Energy Scam."
- She added: "These Green Dreams are killing other countries, but will not kill ours thanks to President Trump's commonsense energy agenda!"
- Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment Thursday night.
Go deeper: COP30 confronts limits of the Paris Agreement system
