French President Emmanuel Macron has said he believes US President Donald Trump will bring Washington back into the Paris deal on combating climate change.
But Macron said in an interview to CBS News on Monday that he will not agree to Trump's demand that America's terms should be negotiated.
The French President, on the eve of a climate summit he arranged in Paris, condemned the manner in which the US had signed an international deal, then withdrawn from it.
"The US did sign the Paris agreement. It's extremely aggressive to decide on its own just to leave and no way to push the others to renegotiate because one decided to leave the floor. I'm sorry to say that. It doesn't fly," said Macron.
Macron told CBS he was not willing to be accused by future generations of understanding the extent of the climate problem but doing too little to solve it.
Scientists were waiting to see whether Tuesday's summit of 50 senior ministers and Prime Ministers will achieve its aim of giving a boost to the current sluggish progress on cutting emissions, the BBC reported.
The important announcements to be made on key financial issues included raising cash to give poor countries clean energy, stopping development banks lending for new coal plants and insisting that firms disclose any fossil fuel assets that might be devalued if governments clamp down on emissions.
On being asked, the French President called his relationship with his US counterpart "very direct" and said that he was frank about his opposition to Washington recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
