U.S. reasserts withdrawal from Paris Agreement

The United States reasserted on Monday that it will quit the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change as soon as it is "eligible to do so."

The U.S. government's position on the Paris accord, a deal reached in 2015 under former U.S. President Barack Obama and calling on nearly 200 countries to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions, "remains unchanged," said the State Department in a statement released in the day.

The United States "intends to withdraw from the Paris Agreement as soon as it is eligible to do so," unless terms for engagement in the accord are "more favorable" to American people, the statement added.

The remarks came amid the ongoing climate talks in Bonn, Germany, which kicked off on Nov. 6.

During the two-week talks, Syria announced that it would sign the Paris agreement, a move leaving the United States the only country registered by the United Nations that has rejected the global pact.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced in June that the United States would quit the deal, calling it bad for America's economy.

The Trump administration intends to formally leave the accord by 2020.

The Paris treaty obliges its signatories to drastically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, in an attempt to stave off the worst effects of climate change.